


Unknown, But Not Alone

by Lunarcentric



Category: Voltron Force (2011), Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Crossover, Family Issues, Found Family, Gen, Magic, Multi, OC main characters - Freeform, The academy is unsafe but at least there's card games, alterations to GX canon, heavy use of OCs, i don't actually write the card games, i don't understand the rules
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2020-03-26 10:46:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 110,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19004191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarcentric/pseuds/Lunarcentric
Summary: As the younger sister of a Voltron Force pilot and a famous duelist, Melodia Farstrike is almost always overlooked by the public. She has virtually no relationship with her brothers - one ignores her, the other pushes her to be like him.Things change when she has a dream that summons her to become a part of the Rose Knights, an ancient group of guardians that not even the Voltron Force knows about. To become stronger, and to find her own path, she joins Duel Academy under the alias of Melodia Moon.It's been a long time since she didn't feel alone.





	1. Prologue Part 1: Unknown

**Author's Note:**

> -Dusting off a million old mental notes- I missed this girl. I missed her story.
> 
> Okaaayy, so after a mental and emotional epiphany that happened recently, I decided to take one of my old RP characters and write out her story! And by that I mean completely rework it because I was like 14 when I started using her and it was a huge mess, hahahaa.
> 
> I'm excited though!! I didn't realize how much I missed her until I started reminiscing with some friends. This is so much fun!! I missed having fun with my creating!

                                   

 

Melodia Farstrike, age 15.

Her first brother is Lance, second in command of the Voltron Force, defender of the universe. Her second brother is Aniko, one of the most skilled and famous professional duelists on the continent.

She tried to follow in their footsteps. But the Lions never listened, and her duels awoke dangerous psychic powers that harmed her opponents. For her pride and the sake of others, she gave up both. She decided it must be some cruel game of fate, never allowing her to step out of her brothers’ shadows.

No one knew her name. No one ever would.

* * *

Melodia had a strange dream one night.

She wore a white sundress. Before her was a castle, guarded by thorns. The grounds gave an eerie, exposed feeling, as if the Earth’s entire population was watching her.

Out of fear and instinct, she tore inside, her psychic powers slicing through the thorny vines in desperation. Only when she’d reached the entry hall did she feel safe.

There were two pedestals. The right held a Voltcom, burning with the red energy of her brother’s Lion. The left held a Duel Disk, Aniko’s Imp monsters placed on the field as if already dueling. A plaque on the closed door beyond them read, _What you take decides your fate._

Melodia knew that neither object could be for her. Her brothers had long since claimed the Lions and dueling. She walked past the pedestals, her power crackling around her.

The door opened.

Beyond was a garden. Leaves and vines towered over her, growing on the walls that surrounded the courtyard. There was barely a place to walk, as the ground was almost entirely covered in bushes of roses. Every color of the flower, whether natural or man-made, bloomed in the moonlight. She wandered for a time, the peaceful energy around her unfamiliar, but welcoming. It reminded her of home.

She found herself drawn to a bush of green roses and stood before it. The sight of them invigorated her, but also quieted the crackling of her powers. As the white sparks faded, she reached out to pick a flower.

When the rose was in her hand, it began to glow and shift. The stem wrapped around her right forearm, and the petals rested against the back of her wrist. The white sundress she wore turned a light, soothing green.

She heard a voice. _“You will never be lost or alone again.”_

She woke up.

There was a small, undefined green mark inside her right elbow.

* * *

There was an envelope in the mail that day, sealed with a sticker of a white rose. When she opened it, 5 Duel Monsters cards fell into her hand, along with a note and a pamphlet.

She’d never heard of these cards before. Rose Warrior – level 7 Effect Monster. Sword of Thorns – Equip Spell. Brambles – Trap. Lunar Rose – level 3 Effect Monster. Moonlit Garden – Field Spell.

 _Join your sisters and bloom_ , said the note.

The pamphlet was for Duel Academy.

When Aniko had been in school, Duel Academy hadn’t existed. He’d never been. There was no Aniko in the records. If she went, she’d be doing something he’d never done.

Maybe she had her own destiny after all.

She told her mother she’d be applying for boarding school. She didn’t tell her brothers anything. Lance would become disinterested as soon as she mentioned Duel Monsters. Aniko wouldn’t say anything, but he’d be silently judging her for reasons she couldn’t know and didn’t want to.

She knew her brothers’ egos. So she’d keep quiet.

It wasn’t like they were ever around anyway.

* * *

The dream came in the spring, so Melodia had all of summer to prepare. When she wasn’t studying for her finals, she was re-learning as much as she could about Duel Monsters. Everything she’d forgotten and then some crammed itself back into her head. This was the easy part – the mechanics of the game weren’t that hard for her to understand.

It was applying her knowledge in actual duels that posed the problem.

When she wasn’t in school or studying, she was training. She had to come up with her own ways to keep her powers in check – Meditation, mental exercises, different ways to discharge the energy. The latter was the most difficult...especially since she had to hide the whole thing from her mother. Rosalie Farstrike didn’t know about her daughter’s psychic abilities, and Melodia planned to keep it that way.

She started at weekly discharges, working on her energy holding capacity. The first several days were a challenge, and they lost a few bushes in the backyard, but she started finding a balance.

During the summer, after she’d gotten the hang of safely containing and discharging her energy on a schedule, she started dueling. First on tabletops with babysitting charges, just trying to get the feel for the game again. She became a favorite sitter for several nearby families.

She also started another step during this – using an alias. If anyone at Duel Academy found out she was Aniko Farstrike’s little sister, they’d either give her the celebrity treatment or work her twice as hard. There was never an in-between. Luckily, the families she worked with never seemed to connect “Melodia Moon” to either of her brothers, even when she’d almost given her real name to her first charge by mistake.

Dueling on tabletops was easy, and genuinely fun. It made it feel more like a game. Grasping this concept after her brother had been a pro for seven years was even more of a hurdle than the powers themselves. But when it was a game, there was no fear – no need for protective powers.

When one of the kids offered her the use of their mother’s old Duel Disk one day in June, two things happened.

First, Melodia had a breakdown. The flood of memories showing her past opponents, cut and bleeding, fear in their eyes, transposed themselves over the little girl. All of her training flew out the window. The idea of hurting an eleven-year-old kid like that was too much. She just couldn’t risk it.

While she was collapsed on the floor, struggling to breathe through her panic, the second thing happened.

One of her cards, the level 8 Effect Monster Midnight Angel, appeared in the room.

The little girl she was watching, Milly Fae, said the card’s spirit appeared between them when Melodia started freaking out. By stretching her wings out, she’d blocked any of the psychic discharge from reaching Milly, keeping her safe. The spirit was the source of the comforting arms and shielding blanket, her embrace cloaking Melodia with a feeling of warmth and peace.

Midnight Angel’s effect involved her blocking direct attacks to her duelist and subtracting the damage from her defense points.

Melodia and Milly spent the rest of their visits that summer dueling. Milly believed that no matter how scary Melodia’s powers were, Midnight Angel would be there to help her. That was why duel spirits came to their world – to help and protect. She didn’t say why or how she knew this, but Melodia suspected Milly might have secrets of her own.

Milly wasn’t scared of her. She insisted she help Melodia learn how to not be afraid of herself, either. It took two weeks for them to have a duel they were able to finish, but after that, it slowly became easier. Melodia found that not only was she controlling her powers, she was also truly enjoying Duel Monsters.

At one point, she realized she’d been dueling all summer and hadn’t thought of Aniko during a single match.

The written exam for Duel Academy took place at the end of July. It overlapped with a day she was supposed to watch Milly, so the younger girl accompanied her. While Melodia took the test, Milly quietly entertained herself in the lobby. By the time the test was over, Melodia found her talking happily with one of the security staff.

This was how Melodia learned that Milly’s aunt, Angela Rosenberg, was a technical advisor at Duel Academy. Milly had been visiting the school since Angela had been hired four years ago, and she saw the staff as her extended family.

This explained a lot about Milly’s insistence on helping her get into the school, to say the least.

When she took Milly home that evening, Melodia found that a lot of her stress about attending Duel Academy had faded. She’d met Angela on several occasions, and the woman was very cheery and hard working. Having her as a familiar face was something Melodia was actually looking forward to.

Of course, she had to be accepted into the school first.

Her results for the written test came in the mail two weeks later. She was out that day, not watching Milly for once, but taking another precaution to conceal her identity. She’d talked it over with her mom, and they were at the salon getting her hair dyed. She wasn’t sure about going completely blue, so she settled with having the dye start at about chin level, as well as across her fringe.

Rosalie got to the mail first, and this was how she learned what school Melodia was applying to. She didn’t say anything about it, knowing there was a brittle and difficult relationship between her children, her younger two especially. She did promise not to mention anything unless Melodia was accepted, in which case the boys would be invited to dinner to celebrate.

Melodia knew her mother meant well, and it wasn’t as hard to agree as she thought it would be. If she was accepted, she’d finally have a chance to show her brothers she could do something of her own.

They opened her results together.

#37. In two weeks, she’d attend the practical exam.

In two weeks, she’d find out if her training had paid off.

* * *

She was failing the practical. She knew she was.

Registration had gone perfectly fine. She'd taken the earlier train to ensure she wouldn't be late, and she'd only stumbled a little when giving her alias. Since she was #37, she had a lot of time before her duel, and got to watch the 100s go.

She hadn't seen a duel in person in a long time. It was kind of a relief to be able to watch so many before her own.

She ran through her deck when the first heat was over and they got into the double digits. She stopped at #50 so she could hear her number be called.

When her number was called, she entered her arena.

That was when things started going wrong.

The tester kept taunting her, egging her on. It was hard not to get annoyed and a little flustered. She fumbled a trap activation and lost a lot of life points because of it.

She'd recovered since then, able to get a portion of the points back with a monster effect, but she wasn't confident in how it was going. She had more points and more cards on the field, but the way the tester was smirking at her kept making her think of Aniko, and thinking of Aniko made her angry, and getting angry made the sparks start, and she was taking way too long with her turns to keep herself from zapping the guy.

There was no way she was winning this. Even if she could beat him, her performance was horrible. She would fail and she would have lost her chance at destiny.

It was her turn. She drew. One of her new cards, Lunar Rose, was added to her hand.

It was a good card, certainly. It could act as two tributes. But she couldn't think of any monster in her deck that would help at the moment. She was fairly certain his facedown would prevent her attempt at a direct attack in some way. Multiple monsters would be better.

She scanned her hand for a solution. At this point, she had four cards – Lunar Rose, Monster Reborn, Midnight Angel, and another of her new cards, Sword of Thorns. What did that do again? _Negates activation of any trap card on the field when equipped to a monster. Equipped monster must be the only monster on the player's side of the field._

Wait, what?

She took a glance at her opponent's life points. Too high for Lunar Rose to take down.

If she double-tributed Lunar Rose for Midnight Angel, it would get her a high-level monster on the field, solo, and the equip spell would work. That should get her the win, right? This would be easy.

The tester shot another taunt at her. She tuned it out with surprising ease, suddenly finding hope. If she could win it right now, maybe she had a chance at being accepted after all.

It was worth a try.

She summoned Lunar Rose, used its ability, and sacrificed it to summon Midnight Angel. As she equipped Sword of Thorns to it, she could've sworn she saw the hologram grin at her.

Right. Duel spirit. She hardly got to use the card, so she'd forgotten. Angel had only interacted with her twice since the initial appearance.

Midnight Angel seemed to be way too gleeful to spear the Negate Attack that popped up, then slice through the tester's remaining life points. She added a double spin and even bowed as she sheathed the sword...in the sheath she didn't have. The tester had no reaction other than what sounded like a default congratulations, meaning he hadn't noticed the extra flourish. Thank goodness.

Midnight Angel flashed Melodia a peace sign before the holograms disappeared, the Duel Disks both being deactivated. Melodia nodded her thanks to the tester and tried not to shake as she went back to her seat.

Results for this test didn't come for another two weeks. She had a feeling she was going to be sick at least three times during the wait.

As she sat back down, two things happened.

First, she saw a familiar head of angular black hair taking a seat in the above viewing area for already enrolled students. It was hair she knew far too well – almost every function she'd gone to for Lance, and sometimes Aniko, for the past six years, it had been there, accompanied by two older brothers trying to coolly catch the attention of at least three high-end people. That hair was accompanied by memories of being shoved together with him, the only person her age who ever went to those stuffy events, and finding herself on the receiving end of the same butter-up treatment as he tried to impress the little sister of a famous pilot and a famous duelist.

Chazz Princeton.

_Oh, no._

She would have zapped someone out of panic right then and there if not for the second thing.

Midnight Angel. Sitting just a few seats behind Chazz. Wearing a Duel Academy uniform.

Melodia's mouth felt dry. She scrambled to pull the card out, trying to compare it to the distant view she had of the girl above. Was it messing with her? Before now, the spirit had only appeared when her panic had risen enough for her powers to be a danger to Milly – emergencies. Now it was suddenly performing in battle and wearing a school uniform?

As she compared the card to the person, she was beyond relieved to find obvious differences. The girl had blond fringe cupping her face. The card had blue markings on her cheeks. The girl's hair appeared to be a curly mess. The card's hair was far longer and more carefully arranged.

Melodia dropped her head into her hands. The stress was clearly getting to her. The duel, the spirit's appearance, then Chazz? Of course she'd start imagining things next.

She tried to relax while she waited for the exam to end. No one could leave until all the duels were finished. There was probably a reason for it, she was just too flustered to think of it.

_“Examinee #37, please head toward the testers’ balcony. There is a call for you.”_

Oh, god.

_For the love of whatever's left of my sanity, don't let that be Aniko or Lance._

Trying to act as inconspicuous as possible, she slunk her way around the arena, hugging her Duel Disk to her chest. It wasn’t hard to find the testers’ balcony – one could see the head professor, Vellian Crowler, from the other side of the huge open space. He gave her a confused look, as if trying to identify her. She hoped he wouldn’t – he came to several of the Aniko-related functions, and definitely knew her face.

She just tried not to look in his direction as she took the cell phone from the man beside him. They allowed her to step away toward the wall to have some privacy.

After counting to five, she managed to lift the phone to her ear. “This is Examinee 37. Hello?”

“Ah, hello! Melodia! It’s been a while since we last spoke.”

Melodia hesitated. “Um...I-I’m sorry?”

“It’s Chancellor Sheppard. I believe we last met at the celebration of the Voltron Force’s victory over that Maahox character?”

Chancellor...Sheppard?

“You run Duel Academy,” she said dumbly.

He chuckled. “Indeed. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions? I’m a little curious as to your reasoning behind...well, several things.”

Melodia had a pretty good feeling she knew what he meant. “My name and screwy records?”

“Well, more or less.”

“I...” She took a slow breath. Chancellor Sheppard was like a weird, distant uncle that only showed up for the big accomplishments that came with a lot of stories and a lot of food. She never really knew him personally, but unlike people like the Princetons, he seemed genuine. Not to mention, he ran the school she was applying for. If anyone should know what was going on, it was him. “I don’t want to be...attending as Aniko and Lance’s sister. I just want to attend as me. A-And to do that, I needed to...adjust some things.”

“You’re lucky that I like to go over potential students’ records myself. If anyone else had seen this mess, there would be no chance of you making it in.” She heard papers shuffling. “You could have just asked.”

“...It was, um...a confusing decision. That I kind of made by myself.”

There was a pause. “They don’t know?”

“They won’t know this ever happened unless I actually get in.” Melodia hoped he’d understand that she chose not to elaborate. “Um, Chancellor Sheppard, please, I...I don’t want this to get out. I just want to be a regular student, okay? And I knew...if I put my real name on those forms, I would’ve been shuffled in without my actual scores being considered.”

“Melodia, please tell me that your mother is aware of this. Rosalie is not a woman I like to be on the wrong side of.”

“She knows! I swear. She’s the one that helped me fiddle the records. Uh, please don’t get her in trouble.”

Sheppard gave a heavy sigh. “Next time you want to enter a school without letting the world know, try picking up the phone and explaining your situation.”

“But if the teachers knew-”

“ _If_ you are accepted, no one on staff will be alerted to your identity.”

“...Um...”

“ _Melodia._ ” There was a warning tone in the way he said her name.

“It’s nothing bad! One staff member already knows. Angela Rosenberg. I, uh, babysit her niece. They’ve kind of been my coaches all summer.”

Chancellor Sheppard was worryingly silent for about ten seconds. She couldn’t even make out the sound of moving papers. “Chancellor...?”

He gave a startled noise that did more than confuse her. “Ah, I’m sorry. I-I didn’t realize you were the potential student Miss Rosenberg was assisting. She’s been speaking volumes of you.” He cleared his throat, the same way her mom did when a topic was distressing in a way she’d rather not address. “Well, if she’s that far in, I’m sure she’d be more than willing to cooperate and play dumb.”

“I’m so sorry to make such a mess...” Melodia could only imagine how frustrated Sheppard must be feeling.

“You did what you thought you had to. I’m relieved it was only out of good intent, but I urge you to think more carefully about your actions in the future.”

Her face burned, and she was glad she was facing the wall so no one could see. “Yes, sir. I will.”

They spent a little while confirming more details for her ‘records’, which he assured her would not get her into trouble, before he let her go so that he could return to his work. Melodia gave the phone back to its owner, thanking him awkwardly, and continued to hide her face from Professor Crowler as she returned to her seat.

When she got closer to the students’ viewing seats, she hid her face from Chazz, too.

She was so, so relieved when it was announced that they could leave. She couldn’t get outside fast enough.

It wasn’t until she was home that she realized the green mark in her elbow had grown into the image of a sprouting seed.

* * *

Before the two weeks of waiting was up, Aniko went and won a tournament.

Was she happy? Kind of. It was cool to see her brothers succeed, at least when it was from a distance. But when tournaments got involved, there were dinner parties added to the equation, so here she was awkwardly sitting in a dress and a brown wig, trying to look like she wasn’t queasy from waiting to hear back about her results.

Aniko had nodded to her exactly once when she and her mother had arrived. After that, it was like she didn’t exist.

Actually, she saw it as a blessing. If she didn’t have to talk to him, she wouldn’t get angry with him, and she wouldn’t risk making a scene. Or blowing something up.

Chancellor Sheppard and Professor Crowler were there, as were the Princetons. Lance couldn’t make it, though she wasn’t sure if she believed his ‘meteor shower threatening a city’s population on a planet three systems away’ excuse. He hated these things as much as she did. Well, at least when they were about Aniko.

It was probably about the only thing they had in common anymore.

She pushed her food around with her fork, completely tuning out whatever Aniko and Professor Crowler were talking about. Below the table, hidden in her purse, she held her deck for some semblance of comfort.

“And what about your sister?”

The s-word broke through, and she tried not to jolt as visibly as she did in her mind. Melodia quickly tried to look like she’d been paying attention, giving a default smile to Professor Crowler, who was looking at her expectantly.

“Have you decided where you’ll be going to school in the fall?” Chancellor Sheppard provided, either seeing she hadn’t heard anything or simply repeating the question to her directly.

Everyone was looking at her now. Her grip on her deck tightened. “O-Oh, um, I’m waiting to hear back from a boarding school. I think my results should come in...next week?”

They all nodded, not actually interested besides her mother and Chancellor Sheppard, who were the only ones that knew the school she was referring to. One of Chazz’s brothers – she had no idea if it was Slade or Jagger – made a comment about the unease he remembered feeling before being accepted to the school of his choice. Placating words, meant to make him look good in front of the others.

“You’re going to boarding school?”

For a few seconds, Melodia froze. Her mouth didn’t want to work, but she forced out whatever words she could. “Maybe. I’m hoping. I did pretty well on the written exam.”

“We would’ve told you, but you’ve been so busy,” her mother added. “We were going to bring it up right away if she got accepted, I promise!”

This seemed to be enough of an explanation, because Aniko went back to ignoring her after that.

It didn’t change the fact that he’d acknowledged her. In public. At all.

It was only a single question, but it was the most attention he’d given her in months.

She wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

People were looking at her now, so she tried to act like she had an appetite for a while, making herself unable to talk. They quickly lost interest in the non-dueling sibling and went back to talking about Aniko and card games.

“Chazz here will be continuing his studies in Duel Academy come October,” one of his brothers bragged. “We’re all very proud of him.”

Her fork missed her pasta. That tone didn’t sound very ‘proud’ to her. More ‘we expected nothing less’. As if Chazz didn’t have a choice.

She must have been imagining it. Just projecting her own problems onto other people. She hid a sigh as she took a sip of her drink.

“Well, he’s certainly no beginner. I’m sure he could even give you a run for your money, Aniko!”

“One day, maybe. I’m afraid he and I are likely in completely different leagues right now.”

Was that a compliment toward Chazz? She couldn’t tell. Everything Aniko said was so vague and non-conforming. She missed the next few bits as she imagined Angela, running her through breathing exercises. She couldn’t do them physically without attracting attention, but even seeing Angela in her mind was calming.

“Here’s an idea! Let’s let the kids have a go, a fun little duel!”

“Great idea, Jagger! Give them a moment in the spotlight. What do you say?”

Chazz’s brothers shattered that calm. The only ‘kids’ at this event were Chazz and herself. They wanted her to duel? Here? _In front of Aniko?_

Aniko was _looking_ at her. “Well, I guess that would depend on if she even has her deck. She was only a novice the last time I asked.”

Chazz’s brothers nodded understandingly, as if it wasn’t an insult to her abilities. Of course the younger sibling wouldn’t be as good as the elder.

She _hated_ it.

Chazz said something she didn’t quite catch, causing Aniko to reply, “If you have extra cards with you, then I suppose it’s up to-”

“I don’t need to borrow cards. I brought mine.”

_Oh god, I interrupted Aniko._

Now that she’d spoken, she was forced to make eye contact with people. She plastered on her default smile again. “They feel like a good luck charm while I wait for my exam results,” she explained blandly. “And I wouldn’t mind dueling. I doubt I’d last long, though. Obelisk Blue is the highest ranking dorm, right? I’ll bet Chazz takes me down in three turns.”

The boy, who she couldn’t believe was actually wearing his uniform to the function, took her flattery easily. “I’ll let you last at least four. You deserve a small chance.” His brothers were nodding, their false pride easily identifiable as superiority.

God, she hated them.

The Princetons had, of course, been planning this from the start, and _just so happened_ to have two Duel Disks in their car. Aniko turned down the offer before Melodia could speak, giving her his own to use.

Because of course he had it with him.

After the adults had cleared a space large enough for the duel, she and Chazz shook hands to placate them. His grip felt like ice, and not just from body heat. He didn’t like her just as much as she didn’t like him.

At least they had that in agreement.

Chazz offered her the first move, which to the others was ‘chivalrous’. She wondered if they knew chivalry was made by higher-class people to better the lives of those below them.

Who was she kidding, of course the Princetons knew that. It was probably their favorite word, since it implied they were the better person.

She did better than she’d announced, but worse than she’d hoped. She managed to knock almost half his life points out, but he’d won by the seventh turn. Everyone applauded the duel, congratulating Chazz and placating her.

She took it all with a fake smile, and excused herself for fresh air in the garden. When she was hidden by a bush, she gathered all the energy she’d flooded with from anger and queasiness during the duel, and plunged it into the ground. Some bits of the affected grass sprouted several inches, and as soon as someone noticed, they’d be hiring someone to even it out.

It was better the grass than a person. Grass grew. People bruised or bled.

Melodia shuddered at the thought.

Black feathers came into view, and before her floated Midnight Angel, giving her a worried look. The spirit offered a questioning thumbs-up, unable to speak, but still wanting to know if she was okay.

Away from prying eyes, Melodia was able to release her sigh with all the aggravation she’d been holding in that night. “I don’t know if I’m disappointed in myself for not doing better, or proud that I even managed to duel in front of Aniko at all.”

The spirit nodded. It had started appearing more frequently since the practical, always checking in with that concerned thumbs-up. It was nice to know _someone_ cared. Well, someone besides her mom and Milly’s family.

Melodia had a few blessed moments alone with the spirit, which was mimicking braiding her hair (unable to physically touch her, but it was only to make her smile), before she heard footsteps approaching. An exchange of nods led Midnight Angel to vanish, allowing Melodia to handle the interaction alone.

When she turned around and saw who it was, she kind of wished she’d asked the spirit to stay.

“I’m supposed to be telling you something supportive and how you did your best,” Chazz said with boredom, skipping any sort of greeting.

“Well then, we’re gonna be real quiet out here, because we both know you won’t,” she shot back. The only thing she liked about Chazz was that she didn’t have to fake enjoying his company when they were alone. They hated each other and they knew it. “Wait out here five minutes, they won’t know the difference.”

She wasn’t sure when Chazz had stopped trying to get on her good side in private, but she was beyond grateful for it. Pretending to be nice to him for years was torture.

 _Heh._ That meant he’d cracked first. She’d take that point.

Chazz indeed proceeded to ignore her, kicking at the bushes first before walking a few feet away to lounge across the bench nearby. She gave him the same treatment, huddling near a flowering bush and seeing if she could use her powers to help the last shrunken rose blossom like the rest. Angela had suggested it as a positive outlet.

Angela had a lot of ideas for positive outlets for her psychic energy. Melodia didn’t know how she thought of them, but she still believed it had something to do with Milly. That kid was way too calm about psychic powers for it to be normal.

Not that she disliked that acceptance.

They made it through a few minutes with total silence before Chazz apparently decided he couldn’t wait any longer to hear his own voice. “I can’t believe you use the same deck you picked over five years ago.”

“Some people actually like their cards, Chazz,” she answered evenly, most of her focus still on the rose. It was starting to open, which always made her feel good about herself.

“I guess all you Farstrikes get attached easily. Your brother hasn’t changed his deck since he went pro.”

“It’s his signature now. Just like Yugi Muto and his deck.”

“What, you think your brother’s going to follow up _Yugi Muto_?”

Since he couldn’t see her face, she rolled her eyes. “It was just an example. I don’t care either way.” The rose was half open now.

“Right, as if that could happen. The next King of Games is going to be me.”

 _Sure, whatever you say,_ she thought, entirely unimpressed.

“I guess some families are just built to succeed. Well, I guess the Farstrikes can be a close second, huh?”

The rose’s growth halted. Something in Chazz’s tone suggested he was approaching a dangerous topic.

“A pilot of the Voltron Force, a pro duelist, even a master chef! I guess you’d be the exception.” _Stop._ _Shut up._ _Don’t say another word._ “And your pathetic excuse for a fath-”

She had no memory of moving, but suddenly she was holding Chazz by the collar of his stupid school blazer, twisting him awkwardly from his position on the bench. “H-Hey!” he spluttered indignantly.

“I highly recommend,” she warned him in a low tone, “that you do not finish that sentence.”

Chazz fell silent.

Angry and disgusted, she shoved him back onto the bench, then turned and stalked back to the roses. By the time she could see straight again, Chazz had stood up, huffed, and left with a mutter of, “Weak.”

She’d take a personal insult over the f-word any day.

When she turned her focus back to the flowers, she found that the rose she’d been helping to grow had not only bloomed, but had become twice the size of the others and was so heavy it had broken off the bush. It had also turned from red to pale green.

Melodia scooped it up. Then, pausing, she rubbed her fingers against the petals. After doing the same with a rose still on the bush, she found the one she’d adjusted felt more like a treated flower than a fresh one. Not as delicate, but still soft.

Deciding it would be a bad idea to leave it in the open, she set it in her purse. She’d figure out what to do with it when she got home.

No one paid her a second thought for the rest of the night.

Well, Chancellor Sheppard slipped her a piece of chocolate when they shook hands as he left.

When she got home, she set the somehow not-crumpled-or-squished giant rose on her desk and changed into her pajamas. Even if Chazz was there, she really hoped she got into Duel Academy. Even if it wasn’t destiny.

Melodia was ready to prove she could do something worthwhile, too. Just for her.

The green seed mark in her elbow had sprouted a little more when she looked at it the next morning.

* * *

 _We are happy to inform you that you have been accepted into Duel Academy. Enclosed is a list of textbooks required, along with a form to fill out for uniform sizing. Please send the latter in the provided envelope before the start of_ _September._

She’d been accepted.

She’d also released all the power she’d been containing, so her mother had come home to a backyard that was practically swallowing her daughter in three-foot grass and weeds. That hadn’t been a fun conversation. But she’d been able to distract from the psychic powers bit with the ‘I got accepted!’ bit, so it wasn’t dwelt upon too much.

Rosalie did say it explained a lot about the backyard’s strange conditions recently. She was glad it wasn’t her going crazy, and further relieved that Melodia was apparently getting help for it.

While her mother went to call her brothers – _goodie_ – Melodia got the garden shears and chopped down a good portion of the incident. It wasn’t pretty by any means, but they both preferred the excuse of an overgrown lawn to telling the boys ‘your sister has psychic powers that make plants grow’. Rosalie would have someone come mow it properly as soon as she could.

They dug out a tape measure and jotted down her measurements, as Rosalie refused to put it off. The form was taken to the post office that evening.

Her brothers would come down for dinner the next day.

While her mother went to drop off the form, Melodia reviewed her textbook list. Or, well, she would have, if another paper hadn’t fallen out when she’d unfolded it.

_I wanted to let you know now so that you aren’t surprised when you receive your uniform. Duel Academy puts all of its female students in Obelisk Blue, due to it being the most suited for privacy as the female dorm is its own building. However, it was decided that due to the conflicting performances of your written and practical, you will be put in Ra Yellow instead. Miss Rosenberg will act as your dorm head should you find it difficult to speak with Professor Sartyr. She has received notice of this, so don’t worry about letting her know. You will have the opportunity to test into Obelisk in the middle of the year._

_We don’t usually inform students of their dorms until they pick up their uniforms, but I wanted to be sure there would be no confusion about where you should go when you do. Don’t let them hustle you over to the girls’ line. Miss Rosenberg will be there with your uniform, so just find her._

_I hope the rest of your summer is a good one, Miss Moon._

_Chancellor Sheppard_

 

If not for his inclusion of her alias, Melodia would have been worried he was giving her special treatment after all. Being called ‘Miss Moon’ by one of the only people who knew the truth was more of a relief than she thought it would be.

It helped stave off the new queasiness about seeing both her brothers the following evening. And of her mother now being aware she could magically grow plants.

* * *

Lance arrived shortly after lunch, to her surprise. He ruffled her hair, said he was proud, then disappeared to talk to their mother. She couldn’t spot Red Lion, so she assumed he’d landed elsewhere and walked to the house.

She couldn’t tell if she was grateful she didn’t have to see the Lion that hated her, or upset that Lance felt he had to keep it away from her.

She decided to fix the dying bushes in the backyard instead. It had been surprisingly easy to convince Rosalie not to have them marked for removal for the lawn worker that would come the next day. Her mom was trying to be supportive even when she was visibly worried about her daughter having powers. It was nice.

When Melodia came inside, she found Lance loitering near her room. Something looked off about him – she’d thought the same thing when he’d shown up an hour ago – but she couldn’t place it. Besides his location, anyway. And his...expression.

When was the last time she’d seen Lance look that awkward?

They looked at each other silently for a few seconds. To her further surprise, he broke it first.

“Can we talk?”

Not everything clicked, but something did. He was outside her room because he wanted to talk to her.

When was the last time he’d asked to talk to her like this?

A bit dazed, both by her brother’s behavior and from the energy she’d expended on the bushes, Melodia only managed a dumb nod. It took her a beat to actually start walking again, and she led the way into her room, wondering what this was about. All she could come up with was he was upset for her choosing to duel like Aniko.

She really, really hoped that wasn’t it, even if it was the most likely choice. Maybe he wanted to talk about something completely unrelated. Maybe he’d gotten a girlfriend. Or wanted advice about Larmina. Something non-dangerous to her situation.

Melodia sat on her bed, and waved for Lance to take her desk chair. She watched him look around as he did – she wasn’t sure either of them remembered the last time he’d been in here.

It hadn’t changed too much the past few years. She still had the same things hung on her wall – a couple of band posters and a set of paintings Prin—Queen Allura had commissioned for her. She’d gotten a new mattress last winter, but her bed sheets were the same. All of her knickknacks were still moon-related. She had a few more stuffed animals.

She wondered if he noticed she didn’t have anything in her room related to him or Aniko.

Part of her hoped he did. Maybe it would let something click in _his_ head for once.

As he sat, his eyes lingered on the giant green rose that was still on her desk. He gave it a strange look, but apparently decided not to comment on it.

He wasn’t looking at her.

There was more silence.

This time, she broke it. Just not in the way she meant to.

“Why did you come?”

He jolted, lifting his eyes to stare at her in surprise. “What?”

Her own gaze dropped. She fiddled with the bottom of her shirt. “I’m sure you had something to do on Arus that was more important than dinner.”

“Why would you think that?”

...Did he sound hurt?

She risked a quick glance up at him. He _looked_ hurt. Lance never looked like that. His ego was too big for that. But his expression looked...genuine.

As she was looking at him, his shoulders slumped. “Ah,” he said quietly. “Right. Last week.”

“So it _was_ an excuse.”

“...Not for the reason you’re thinking.” Lance fiddled with his collar, something she hadn’t seen him do in a long time. Well, his uniform didn’t really allow for—

Lance wasn’t wearing his uniform.

That’s what was off about him. Ever since the Incident six years ago, Lance had worn some kind of uniform, no matter what. For the first five years, it was a Galaxy Garrison one. When they’d brought Voltron back, it was a new Force suit and a jacket she was pretty sure he’d stolen from Keith. She hadn’t seen him in casual clothes for...six years? Really?

“I know I’m not really in a position to ask this.” Lance was speaking again. His brow was furrowed, and he was staring at the floor again. “But can you humor me for five minutes?”

This was so many levels of weird that she couldn’t do anything but reply with a half-audible, “Sure.”

“Are you...” It looked like he was running through his question in his head. “Are you going to Duel Academy because you want to, or because Aniko pressured you to?”

_What?_

“Look, I know...we’re not exactly buddies. But Mom told me about the dinner party, and I just...I wanted to make sure you’re doing this for good reasons. For _your_ reasons.” He pulled at his collar again, still staring at the floor. “I don’t want you to think you have no choice but to be like one of us.”

“Why the hell do you suddenly care?” She’d blurted it out before she could think about it. Again. Once again, he jolted, but this time it looked more like a flinch. Was he upset?

_Good._

“You’ve barely spoken to me since the Lions rejected me. Why are you suddenly worried about my choices _now?_ Why do I suddenly matter _now?_ After _six years,_ suddenly I’m important?”

“You were always important!” he shot out, angry for a second, before reeling it in even faster than he did with their mother. “It wasn’t because of the...it’s not the reason you think it is.”

“Then _tell me_!”

Lance fumbled, visibly, for words. It set her off more – none of this was right, none of this was _normal._ Where was the ego? Where was the snarkiness?

Where was his confidence?

He covered his face with his hands, sighing heavily. “Where do I even start,” he muttered, just loud enough for her to hear.

As he tried to find his words, Melodia realized she wasn’t even angry. She was just unnerved.

Sure, she _wanted_ to be angry. She had at least a decade of it pent up inside, even with the psychic discharges becoming a decent outlet for it. But the man in front of her didn’t look like the second in command of the Voltron Force.

He actually looked like her brother. And he was upset.

Lance hadn’t even shown that when the Lions had been tampered with to cause the Incident. He’d just been angry. And then he’d stopped it up to play the part of 'obedient soldier' for the next five years.

And then he’d been too busy stopping King Lotor after his return.

“I made up the meteor shower,” he said, shakily. “Not because of you. If I had to sit and hear people gloat with Aniko, I would’ve punched someone, and it would’ve been him.”

This was only half a surprise. She knew her brothers hated each other. It was far more public than how she felt about either of them. But...she’d expected to be part of the equation.

“When Aniko was in high school...his second year. Ten years ago. That was when he turned into this... _jerk_.”

Was it? She’d only been four to five at the time. She couldn’t really remember. She’d kind of assumed he’d just always been that way.

“I tried to pull you into the Voltron Force to get you away from him. When you were eight, you remember? You stayed on Arus on and off for about a year. I...I didn’t want you to turn out like him.”

Melodia clenched her fists. A small spark had escaped her palm. For many different reasons, she started bottling up the energy.

She didn’t know what to think.

“The Lions rejected me,” she reminded him. “All of them. Even yours.”

For a moment, he was silent.

His voice cracked three times when he spoke.

“Have you spent all this time thinking I hated _you_ because of that?”

When she looked up, she saw tears in his eyes.

Nothing was making sense.

“You...You kept trying to push me to move to Arus. Even after it happened.”

“I wanted to get you away from Aniko!”

“Even after Red Lion stole me and flew me back here.”

“Even if you couldn’t pilot a Lion, that didn’t mean you couldn’t learn things with us! You had so many friends there, you loved the school, I thought if I kept pushing-”

“It felt like you wanted me to be you.”

There were no sparks. No energy. The bottled feeling was just...gone.

It had taken her almost a decade to say that.

Lance was staring at her, his face a mixture of disbelief and horror. It took her a few seconds to realize that what she felt was what he was afraid she’d felt toward _Aniko._

The weight of the words was gone from her chest, but there was a pit in her stomach that didn’t feel like psychic energy.

_How had she seen things so wrong for seven years?_

* * *

Lance had to leave before dinner due to a volcanic eruption three countries over. It was on the news and everything. They didn’t finish their conversation.

Aniko never showed up. Milly and Angela were more than happy to come over and join them in his place.

Her green mark doubled in size before she went to bed.


	2. Prologue Part 2: ...But Not Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what's annoying? Having to spam the spacebar to center your image. WTF is up with that? I could've had part 1 out 20 minutes ago if it had let me use the centering option like I can for text.

                                   

Something happening every two weeks was apparently becoming a _thing_ now.

The start of September, while Melodia was at Milly’s house for babysitting/training, Rosalie called. Apparently Larmina had been trying to reach Melodia through her Voltcom, but it was stuffed in a drawer in her room, so she’d had to contact Rosalie through the emergency comm they kept by the phone.

Larmina was going to be in the area in an hour, and she wanted to take Melodia back to Arus with her. She didn’t say why, but when it came to Larmina, there was no point in arguing.

Melodia left a note for Milly’s parents, saying she was needed and Milly would be with Rosalie, then rode the train home. Milly was more than happy to camp out Melodia’s room and play with her stuffed animals. Once she was situated, Melodia grabbed her maybe-charged Voltcom from the drawer and headed out again, walking her way to the open field reserved for Lion parking.

Lance had thought the fake giant parking meter someone had added was hilarious.

By the time she arrived, it was a 10-minute wait, so she tucked herself against the fake meter and tried to remember how to actually put the Voltcom on. She figured it out just as Blue Lion appeared in the sky overhead. Larmina’s voice came through the device, which meant it at least had some charge.

 _“_ _I’m over the field. Where are you?”_  
  
“Behind the meter. You wanna tell me what’s going on?”

The only answer she got was Blue Lion landing and its mouth opening to let her in. Melodia stared at it with wariness. Half the time she tried to board a Lion, they pretended to be about to bite her. It hadn’t actually happened yet, but she was sure it would one day.

“Larmina, I don’t think-”

_“Blue knows what will happen if she tries to hurt you. Come on, this is important.”_

Once again not arguing with her stubborn acquaintance, Melodia boarded as quickly as she could. The jaw didn’t so much as twitch until she was in the second seat.

Larmina was quiet, especially compared to her usual self. She didn’t speak until they’d left Earth’s atmosphere. “What happened?”

“Huh?”

“Two weeks ago. When Lance came down here for that acceptance letter dinner thing.”

“Wh—that’s none of your-”

“I don’t _care_ that it’s none of my business! He’s been in such a daze since he got back that Daniel had to take Red pretty much full time! Your brother can barely fly the simulator and he keeps staring into space! Whatever happened is screwing up his head, and that’s a danger to him and to the team. So you two need to talk.”

Melodia was already tense, but she felt herself tighten up further. “His problems have nothing to do with me.”

“What part of _I don’t care_ don’t you get?” Larmina snapped back. “I sparred with him yesterday and he was so out of it I almost broke his leg!”

“...What?”

“You think this is a joke? He’s run into almost every wall in the castle since he got back, burned himself with his coffee _six times,_ and Red won’t even let him in the cockpit. The _Lion_ knows something is wrong.” She turned in her seat, glaring at Melodia pointedly. “The _most reckless Lion of the team_ won’t let its pilot fly it.”

Melodia swallowed. When she didn’t give an answer, Larmina turned back to the front and pushed Blue faster. “You’re not leaving Arus until you sort things out with him.”

Sinking a bit in her seat, Melodia didn’t argue.

* * *

Larmina dropped her off at the main castle hangar, confusing Hunk who’d been organizing tools. Already a bit befuddled – Blue Lion hadn’t tried to eject her seat for the first time – Melodia explained Larmina’s meddling, and was less than reassured when Hunk nodded his agreement.

Hunk left the tools and escorted her through the castle.

Melodia was getting the heavy, sinking feeling that this was all far more her fault than she’d initially thought it was.

She tried to run through all of her interactions with Lance from the past several years. His pushing to move to Arus to help the Force. When the Lions had rejected her, he’d almost immediately switched gears and focused on how much she liked the school, and all the friends she had there. When the Incident had occurred, he’d shifted to how cool it would be to have her at the Galaxy Garrison when she was older so he wouldn’t be stuck with all the stuffy idiots. When Voltron’s name had been cleared about a year ago, he’d practically begged her to come to Arus.

All the behavior she’d seen as wanting her to be him, wanting her to boost his ego, pushing her to choose him over anything else... Had it been _meant_ as something entirely different?

It scared her. Not because she’d been wrong, but because it implied Lance didn’t think she was safe even being in the same country as Aniko. What did he know that she didn’t?

What had happened to Aniko ten years ago that she wasn’t aware of?

Her heart sunk further when she and Hunk stopped outside a room. It wasn’t Lance’s. It was the one she stayed in whenever she came to Arus.

Hunk wouldn’t leave until she’d gone inside. She knocked, but got no answer. Hunk overrode the lock with his Voltcom and ushered her inside. The door shut behind her. She didn’t hear if it locked.

Lance was sitting on the floor, holding a photo. He still wasn’t in uniform. His beard suggested he hadn’t been shaving since he got back.

Was this her fault?

He didn’t acknowledge her, so she stood in the doorway silently, trying to figure out what to say. Is this how he’d felt when he’d flown down for dinner? Had his stomach churned this much? Had he been this eager to bolt back out to the hallway and avoid this for the rest of his life?

“What do you want, Keith.” He spoke, but not to her. At her, maybe. His tone was flat and tired, and it hurt.

All of this hurt.

“I’m...not Keith.”

He flinched. Not a caught-off-guard jolt, not a happenstance twitch, but a full-on, startled flinch.

She didn’t feel like an apology could fix this. She didn’t know what could. She didn’t know which mistakes had been made by him and which had been made by her. She didn’t even know if she was angry at him or scared for him.

“...Why do you think I’m not safe around Aniko?”

It was the only thing she could come up with. If it wasn’t hate, if it wasn’t dismissal, the only option left was protection. He was just really, really bad at it when it was on a personal level.

Somehow she’d forgotten that.

He didn’t answer at first. His thumb rubbed against the glass on the photo he was holding, she saw that much from this angle. She didn’t see any recognition of her question, though.

She asked it again, using fewer words. “What’s wrong with Aniko?”

“...I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I was off-planet when it happened. He went into his second year happy, and he came out of it as one of the worst people I’ve ever known.” Lance gripped the picture frame tighter. “There weren’t any viable grounds to do any tests. Every time I tried to tell Mom, she said he’d grow out of it like I did. By the time I was able to convince her something _was_ wrong, he was an adult and we didn’t have legal rights to do anything. Every time I tried to talk to him...”

He didn’t have to say it. Melodia remembered a lot of fights back then. “So you ended up just not talking to him.”

“I avoided him like the plague. You can say it.” He pushed a hand down his face, sighing. “And because you lived with Mom, you were stuck close to him.”

“So when Mom told you I was accepted to Duel Academy-”

“I was terrified.” It came out as a whisper. “I wanted to be happy for you, but all I could think was _‘what if she turns out like him?’_ ”

“You tried to make me like you so I couldn’t be like him.” As confusing as all this was, it still felt like that. He’d tried to lead her down his path. Whenever she’d strayed, he’d go quiet and she’d think she’d disappointed him.

“I tried to make you think you would be happier here.” He didn’t object to her accusation. “When that failed, I figured if you hated both of us, you wouldn’t have to pick sides, and you wouldn’t get caught in any potential crossfire.”

“And you thought that was a good idea?”

“No, but it was better than telling the truth.”

“Was it?”

“You wanna tell your six year old sister that something’s wrong with her big brother and she’s not safe around him? Yeah, that wouldn’t scare her at all, would it?” He was trying to sound annoyed, but he was too tired for it to come across that way. “Fear can be manipulated. And he _would_ have manipulated it.”

There were no sparks. No energy trying to jump out at him. She _was_ angry, but she also understood.

Lance had made himself the bad guy to protect her.

That sounded more like him than anything else he’d done for at least five and a half years.

She was angry with him, yes. Very. There was no changing that. He’d hurt her, even if it was to protect her, and that couldn’t be erased.

But what other choice did he have? None, it sounded like. He’d done the only thing he could.

“Please.” Lance had finally lifted his head. He looked exhausted. She wondered just how poorly he’d been sleeping. “Please tell me you didn’t do this for him.”

“Does it sound like I did?”

“I don’t know anymore.” Defeat poured out with his words. “I don’t know you. I don’t know him. I just know that you got angry and you _sounded_ like-”

He cut off, but she’d caught the way his mouth was moving. They all did it. They all almost slipped, even now.

“I sounded like Aniko,” she said softly. “And like you. And like Dad.”

The photo was on the floor, and his head was in his hands. “I’m so sorry.” He was shaking, physically and vocally. “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t...I thought...”

Was she angry with him? With all his decisions for the past several years?

Absolutely. Yes. _Completely._

But right now, seeing him almost crying in her old room, looking like he hadn’t showered in days, did she _hate_ him?

No.

She _couldn’t_ , because it made her think too much of herself.

“I don’t know what happened with Mom and Dad,” she said carefully, trying not to make things worse, “or what he did, or what he was like. I don’t remember him. But I remember you and Aniko, always fighting, always angry...I remember not wanting any part of it. Not wanting to be connected to either of you, or that anger. I tuned it out, I ignored it...I bottled it up. I didn’t bother showing it, because I didn’t want to be part of those fights.”

She twisted her fingers around, not quite pulling at her sleeves, but fairly close to it. “I don’t know what happened with Dad,” she said again, “but I know it caused a huge domino effect that’s still going. And all of this stuff with Aniko aside, I’m sorry I can’t help fix it.”

Melodia knew nothing about her father. Not even his name or where he was from. Something had happened when she was a baby, something really bad, and he was just gone. No one spoke about him. When she’d asked as a kid why she didn’t have a dad, they’d just look at her sadly and tell her that ‘daddy did something bad and he had to be taken away’.

“I just want you to know,” she said slowly, “that I’m doing this for me. So I can _be_ me. And I don’t think I’m ready to explain much else right now. But I think...there’s one thing you deserve to know.”

She had no idea how to feel about Lance as a whole right now. The past Lance was horrible. The current Lance was miserable. Maybe some of it was her fault, and maybe some of it wasn’t. She had a feeling she’d never know.

But she could explain _one_ thing.

As her brother slowly looked up at her, like he couldn’t dare to hope for too much, Melodia pulled off her Voltcom. She didn’t want to risk damaging it. When it was set safely on her bed, she backed away from it, then took a deep breath and looked at her hands.

_It’s easy to show it. Little sparks. Just turn the tap on a tiny bit._

Melodia faced Lance, stretching her palms up. Following Angela’s advice, thinking of all her training, she turned the faucet on to ‘minuscule’.

The white energy popped and crackled in her hands like cherry bombs. A little flashy, but harmless.

She saw his face go through so many changes she had no idea what he was thinking. Turning the faucet off and clenching her fists to snuff it out, Melodia took another deep breath.

“It started when I first tried to duel,” she explained softly. “Just before the Lions started hating me. I’ve been talking to someone about it, and she thinks it’s some kind of curse. That the Lions might be blocking me out so that I don’t hurt them.” She hesitated. “It’s how I broke the first Voltcom you gave me. It...wasn’t on purpose.”

She hesitated again. “She said if I can figure out how to channel it positively, the Lions might not see me as a threat anymore. I just don’t really know what she means by that.”

Lance was moving. It took her a moment to realize that. He was moving, trying to get up, and when he succeeded he walked over to her, and then—

Lance was hugging her.

The last time Lance had hugged her was just before she got her powers, just before the Lions rejected her. Her ninth birthday, six and a half years ago. She remembered it vividly. It was one of the last bits of real affection he’d ever given her before it all turned to half-smiles and hair ruffles.

She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed the feeling.

She couldn’t tell if he was crying, because she couldn’t see anything through her own tears.

She was pretty sure he said sorry a lot.

She did too.

* * *

For a lot of different reasons, Melodia stayed on Arus for the rest of the day.

She wanted to make sure Lance showered and cleaned up. She wanted to think about everything before she went home and had to talk to her mom. She had to convince Lance she didn’t need Pidge to scan her, or for them to try and break the curse, because she was doing a lot better with it.

She wanted to have dinner with her brother.

It was still hard to know how she should feel about him, but at the very least, she was pretty sure that ‘hate’ had left the table.

Lance had himself cleaned up before dinner, and they broke into Daniel’s room to raid his video games. They listened to music, finding similarities about their tastes. They helped Hunk fix his grill and gave Queen Allura some completely non-biased suggestions about what the menu should be at the upcoming Harvest Banquet.

It was awkward, and it was a little quiet, but...it was fun. Easily the most fun she’d ever had in the Castle of Lions.

Even when Midnight Angel kept popping up every ten minutes looking completely confused, then disappearing again without explanation.

Even when the Green Lion came out of its hangar on its own and stared at them the whole time they helped Allura with banquet preparations in the garden.

 _Especially_ when Daniel chased them through the castle for going into his room.

No one pressured her to stay the night, likely just grateful she’d come up in the first place. They knew Arus wasn’t her favorite place, and Lance wasn’t her favorite person. Keith did thank her for coming, and it felt more like he was thanking her as a friend than as her brother’s commanding officer.

Just before Hunk flew her home, Lance had one last thing to say to her.

“By the way...I like your hair. It’s very you.”

She totally didn’t cry a little on the way back.

When she was getting ready for bed that night, her little sprout mark had become a flower stem twisting halfway up her forearm with a small bud growing from it.

* * *

Melodia was a little wary that Midnight Angel was riding the train with her.

The spirit wasn’t trying to communicate anything, she was just...there, in an otherwise empty seat. It looked like she was enjoying the ride.

She... _they,_ were on their way to pick up her uniform. Since Angela was supposed to have it, she was hoping it would be a quick in and out so she could get back home to find her suitcase. She’d be leaving for school in three weeks.

Midnight Angel got off the train as soon as it stopped at their station, but stayed just in sight the whole way to their destination. It disappeared inside the building, and wasn’t in the lobby when Melodia made it in. She decided to shrug it off – the spirit had been acting all kinds of weird since the trip to Arus two weeks ago – and followed the signs that would lead her to the room that pick-ups were taking place in.

Like the Chancellor’s note had said, as soon as she walked in, staff members tried to push her into the line for female students. It took her a minute to explain her situation, and a few more for them to find Angela. She was near the back, keeping track of inventory as students signed out with their new uniforms.

Next to her was Midnight...the girl that _looked_ like Midnight Angel. She was balled up against the wall, reading a book, and still wearing the same Obelisk uniform. Her boots and socks were abandoned under the table.

Angela brightened when she caught sight of her. “Moon! There you are!” Her grin was infectious, and Melodia found herself smiling back as she stopped in front of the table. “It wasn’t too much trouble?”

Melodia shook her head. “They stopped pushing as soon as I said your name.”

“Hah! That’s good. Let me grab your things, and if you could sign this...” Angela pushed a clipboard towards her before turning to sort through the box beside her. Melodia found her name and marked off that she’d gotten her uniforms, then stepped back so approaching students could do the same.

She realized she was staring at not-Midnight Angel, but the resemblance was even more obvious up close. If not for the hair being crazier and having blond fringe...

Oh, dear, and she was looking right back at her. Melodia felt her face flush.

Not-Midnight Angel cracked a smile. “Looks like they didn’t mention me, huh?”

“Wh-What?”

The girl gestured to Angela, who’d gotten a uniform package out of the box and was now trying to find the other piece. “She’s my mom.”

“Wait, _what?_ ” Angela had a kid? Milly had a cousin? She’d known them for months and this had never been mentioned.

“She kinda forgets to brag about me. Too much work on the brain.” The girl knocked the side of her head, then chuckled. “Name’s Abigail. And you’re Moon. She _definitely_ doesn’t forget to brag about _you._ ”

Melodia was going to correct her, as Moon was her false _surname_ , but the mention of Angela bragging about her cut off her words before they could start. She must have made quite a face, because Abigail’s grin faded. “Uh, hey, you okay?”

She just fiddled with the ends of her sleeves, unable to answer. It wasn’t exactly easy to say, _‘No one’s ever bragged about me before’_. That was way too many questions she didn’t want to answer.

“Uh, hey, new topic!” Abigail didn’t seem to have much skill in subtly. It kind of helped lift the mood, actually. “How are things going? Like, with the thing?”

She was terrible at being vague, too. Melodia had no idea what she was trying to say. At least face-reading seemed to be one of Abigail’s skills, because she apparently figured that out. “Ah, well, I mean...” She gestured wildly for a moment, dropping her book in the process, then ended up clapping her left hand against her right forearm. “The flower thing?”

As Melodia’s brain momentarily ceased function, Angela yelped and nearly fell out of her chair. “ _Abigail!_ I didn’t talk to her about that yet!”

 _“_ _What? Why?!_ ” Abigail whirled her head to the side to meet her mom’s freaked-out gaze, looking panicked herself. “You said you were helping her!”

“I wasn’t going to throw everything at her all at once!”

“You didn’t tell me!”

“You’re not the one that doesn’t know!”

As the two bickered, Melodia became aware of a dull pain on her forearm. She realized she was practically strangling it with her left hand. Somehow managing to release her grip, she half-slammed it on the table, catching their attention.

It took her several seconds to find her voice. “How do you know about that?”

Without hesitation, Abigail started folding back her right sleeve. Sleeve? She was wearing a coat like the male uniforms. Why-?

Oh.

To hide the blue rose twirling around her right forearm.

When she looked at Angela, the woman had pulled back her sleeve, too.

A crimson rose, tangled around her arm so much Melodia could barely find non-colored skin.

Melodia thought about the green flower bud that was currently halfway up her forearm. At least, that’s how big it had been last night. She wondered if it had shot up again, like it tended to do whenever something somewhat defining happened in her life.

“I was going to come over while you were watching Milly tomorrow,” Angela said softly. “When you only had packing left to worry about.”

Both of them pushed their sleeves back down, covering the roses. “Sorry,” Abigail said awkwardly. “I thought you knew.”

 _Join your sisters and bloom._ That was on the note that had come with her new cards, after her dream.

She was holding her arm again. This time it wasn’t out of panic, though. She wasn’t really sure what it was. “How did _you_ know?”

“When a new one is chosen, everyone else feels it,” Angela explained. “You remember how excited I was when I met you? We had someone picked about six years ago, but we never found them. And there you were, in my sister’s house, babysitting my niece.” She laughed a little. “I would’ve said something right away, but you had so much on your plate...”

Quite literally all of Angela’s behavior up to this point suddenly made sense. She’d jumped into helping Melodia with her powers after barely hearing a word. When she’d visited during a time that Melodia was studying, she’d offered to quiz her whenever the chance arose. Really, she just popped in way more often than Melodia thought was normal, and she’d thought it was because of Midnight Angel and Milly.

_“You will never be lost or alone again.”_

The voice from her dream came back to her mind. She gripped her arm a little tighter.

Angela passed over the wrapped Ra uniform that was meant for her, along with two shoe boxes, a wrapped gym uniform, and a box holding the standard Academy Duel Disk. “Tomorrow,” she promised.

Melodia nodded, taking her items. She noted she, like Abigail, had the blazer instead of the female top.

“Tomorrow,” she agreed quietly. Her voice didn’t seem capable of a louder volume.

When she got back on the train, Midnight Angel had saved her a seat.

She checked her mark when she got home. The stem was a little longer, and the bud had bloomed just a small bit.

She decided to put off all rose-related thoughts until the next day, and tried on her uniform so Rosalie could take pictures. Along with the yellow blazer was a white skirt and black leggings. One of the shoe boxes held sand-with-gray sneakers. The other held what she assumed to be her gym shoes.

After briefly modeling for her mother, Melodia went back to looking for her suitcase. She was starting to think she might have left it on Arus when she’d stayed over last summer. (She’d had no choice, her mom had flown out for a funeral.)

Which was of course where it was, after she awkwardly checked via Lance. He promised to have it sent down as soon as there was time. That would probably be a couple of days, so she decided to gather her clothes to pack and set them aside on her desk for the time being. Her textbooks and Duel Disk joined the pile, along with a few stuffed animals and knickknacks she didn’t want to leave behind.

After some hesitant thought, her Voltcom and its charger joined the pile as well. She wouldn’t be able to wear it regularly, both for her identity’s sake and for the risk of her powers breaking it, but she could at least keep it in her dorm room.

She was kind of surprised that she actually wanted to. Maybe her talk with Lance had jostled more in her head than she’d thought. She still wasn’t clear on how she felt about him, but seeing how her blunt rejection had broken him...

He’d made a lot of mistakes, but so had she. She was willing to admit that.

For the first time in years, when Lance showed up in her dream, it wasn’t as an enemy. Just as someone in the background.

* * *

Melodia was getting ready to head to Milly’s house the next day when the front door was jostled from outside. There was the sound of a key being turned in the lock.

Her mom wasn’t supposed to be home until evening. The only other people with keys were herself and her brothers.

She didn’t even get to finish thinking, _Please be Lance,_ before the door was shoved open and Aniko was staring at her.

“Mom’s at work,” she said automatically. She hurried to finish putting on her shoes. “I’m going out.”

Without a word, he shoved a small, nondescript box at her. Not meeting his eyes, she took it. “What’s-?”

“From my manager.” He turned around and stalked back out. She’d barely registered his words before she saw his car leaving.

Thoroughly unnerved, she finished pushing on her boots and glanced over the box. Aniko’s manager was...decent, she supposed. Not too friendly, but not too distant. It was probably the only reason they could handle her brother at all. They sometimes sent gifts, sure, but they used the mail. Aniko had never delivered one before.

This was suspicious as hell.

Walking over to the phone so she could hit the emergency alert in case Aniko had decided to hand her a trap (he’d never been outright hostile to her or their mother, but she’d always thought he had the potential), she sliced the tape off with the letter opener and opened the box with one hand. Her other hovered by the comm, just in case.

Figurines.

They were each encased in bubble wrap, and there were three of them. She couldn’t quite make out what they were.

After staring at them tensely, she activated the comm. Pidge’s holographic face appeared instantly. “Ah, Dia! Is some-”

“Aniko just gave me something. I want whoever drops off my suitcase to come pick this up to test it for anything dangerous.” She was shaking slightly. “I’ll put it in Lance’s old room.”

“U-Understood.” Pidge made no attempt to question this choice. “Are you okay?”

Melodia considered her free hand, which had little sparks dancing around it. She couldn’t manage to close the tap. “I’m about to go see friends.” She paused. “I’ll take my Voltcom.” She'd probably fry it, but he didn't know that, so it would make him feel better.

“Do you want me to tell Lance?”

She bit her lip.

“...N-No, it’s okay. You can tell him if he asks why you’re testing it.”

Pidge’s “Okay,” didn’t sound convinced, but he was willing to drop it. “Have fun with your friends.”

As she shut the box and thought about the rose marks, she gave a bland, “Yeah,” before she hung up. She stepped into Lance’s somewhat musty room just long enough to put the box on the dresser, then stepped into her own room to grab her Voltcom. After that, she stopped in the backyard to center herself and extinguish her sparks, then walked out the front door and locked it behind her.

As soon as her key was in her pocket, she turned and bolted for the sidewalk, sparks trailing behind her.

* * *

Angela was just stepping out of her car when Melodia got to Milly’s house, and she had to physically restrain herself from tackling the woman. She barely saw Abigail move, but the other girl went from the front door to holding her at the sidewalk in what seemed like a blink. Midnight Angel’s wings covered them both.

No matter what Lance’s intentions had been or how they’d worked out, Aniko had just _freaked her the hell out._

Abigail and Midnight Angel both ushered her around the house to the backyard, while Angela hurried inside to grab the edible herb that helped calm her powers. Milly came outside moments later, urgently leading Melodia to slowly growing the grass around her instead of exploding it all at once. Abigail kept holding her. Midnight Angel mimicked her breathing exercises.

Her arm hurt, but she couldn’t find her voice to tell any of them about it.

When Angela arrived with the herb, she practically stuffed it into her mouth. Her powers should have stopped discharging at this point, even with the slow output, but they hadn’t. She was getting scared. It was hard to remember to chew. For a couple of seconds, her forearm burned, but by the time she managed to flinch in reaction, it had already stopped.

She shoved her sleeve up, just in time to see a hint of brown disappear from her mark.

Angela knelt by her, grabbing her hands gently. The look on her face reminded Melodia of her mom.

“Aniko showed up,” she managed to choke out.

She might have imagined it, but Angela almost looked angry. “Do your powers always overload when you see him?”

“Yes.”

Angela squeezed her hands, then pulled her close and wrapped her in a hug. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. Melodia didn’t know why she was apologizing. “I brought some cake. Do you want to eat it out here?”

Melodia nodded, and Abigail disappeared inside without a word. Milly quickly followed her.

Midnight Angel was still sitting beside her. It stayed there until a blanket, plasticware, and the cake were brought out.

It gave the questioning thumbs-up. Melodia took a shuddering breath and nodded. The spirit was gone by the time everything was set up.

No one asked her for details. They just passed her cake and a cup of chocolate milk.

At Abigail’s recommendation, she took a nap afterward. The herb kept her from remembering any dreams she had. She knew it was probably for the best.

When she woke up, she joined Milly in playing one of her video games. It was fairy-themed and really cute. The younger girl’s natural cheer helped shake off the small remainders of panic that still clung to her.

Speaking of shaking, she finally wasn’t doing it anymore.

Angela made her play two more levels with Milly before everyone agreed she was settled. Milly saved her game and went to play in her room, leaving her aunt and cousin with Melodia. The three of them sat in the living room for a moment in silence before Abigail spoke.

“I’m not good with words, so this is gonna sound rude no matter how hard I try, but it’s a bad idea on a lot of different levels to see that guy from now on.”

While Angela pursed her lips, Melodia looked at the other teen with confusion. “Like...more than the power overload?”

“Your rose was hurting, wasn’t it? We felt it too. Whatever he’s got going on, it’s bad for all of us. Your powers, all our roses...” Abigail trailed off. Melodia got the feeling she felt there was a personal level to it as well. She wasn’t wrong.

“You’ll be at school, and he’ll be busy,” Angela reassured her. “His... _whatever_ , will be hundreds of miles away. Okay?”

Slowly, Melodia nodded. “Lance...thinks something’s wrong with him, too. There’s just nothing he or Mom can do about it now that he’s an adult.”

Angela nodded in understanding. “Then the best thing to do is keep you two apart.”

“Okay.”

No one questioned her willingness to go along with that. All Angela did was sigh and push up her sleeve, showing her crimson rose again.

“So. I promised an explanation. Are you up for it?”

“Please.” Melodia gripped her own sleeve.

Nodding again, Angela tapped her arm. “So, to start, we’re chosen by some...ancient deity of sorts. In recent times, it’s been connected to Duel Monsters, but it used to be more...magic-based, I guess. My family line’s been in it longer than we have documented.” She nodded toward the hallway Milly had disappeared to. “She’s likely to join us someday.”

“You get chosen one of two ways,” Abigail went on. “The deity itself invites you in, or an existing member can. Neither of us knew you until you became Milly’s sitter, so unless you met someone that invited you to the castle...”

Melodia shook her head. “That’s...the dream, right? With the thorns and the garden?”

“Right.” Angela smiled softly. “Far as we can tell, the castle represents a real place somewhere in the galaxy. Could be on Earth, could be on the total other side of the Milky Way, we don’t know. Earth only started alien communications a couple of decades ago, so it’s impossible to tell. The point is, we’re sort of like guardians, trying to keep the balance between...well...I’m not really sure.” She rubbed her neck awkwardly. “A lot of the archives were lost about a decade ago in an accident. But it’s some kind of balance for sure.”

Abigail had pulled out her deck. “You got some new cards, right? Out of the blue?”

Sluggishly, Melodia reached for her own deck pouch. “Yeah...five cards came in the mail. The same day I had the dream.”

“We have them, too. Well, they’re not exactly the same. They sort of get customized according to your style and deck theme.” Abigail pulled five cards out, then leaned over to set them out in front of Melodia. “These are mine.”

Like her own, Melodia had never heard of any of them. Rose Lord – level 7 Effect Monster. Floral Staff – Equip Spell. Rose Gate – Trap. Holy Rose – level 3 Effect Monster. High Field – Field Spell. The same set up in basic essence, but the effects and names differed. Except for Holy Rose – it had the same double-tribute effect as her Lunar Rose.

Melodia offered Abigail a look at hers, then looked questioningly at Angela. She smiled sheepishly. “I, uh, haven’t dueled in a long time. Most of my cards are lost. My trap is Brambles, though.”

“O-Oh, mine too.”

“I think it’ll be handy for you. It shuts an attack down and keeps that monster from attacking again for five turns. What do your others do?”

Abigail had her cards, so she let the other girl read the names and effects out. They both seemed excited to hear about her field spell.

“Garden fields are really rare!” Angela was practically gushing. “They’re reminiscent of the garden in the real castle. The archives said they give big life point boosts!”

“Yup,” Abigail confirmed. “For every card on either side of the field and in both players’ hands, you get an immediate boost of 200 points each. Man, I’m jealous. High Field just boosts Angels 300 each and gives me 100 life points for all the ones on the field.”

“Are they usually this...overpowered?”

Angela chuckled. “Yeah, always. You haven’t used yours before, right? Be careful. When you play one of these field spells, it messes with the duel. Damage turns real.” After a beat, she added, “Like what your powers do.”

“High reward for high risk,” Abigail nodded. “Usually they only get used when it doesn’t matter. Damage is already being dealt. That’s why they boost life points so much, it’s to heal you from whatever real physical damage you’ve already taken.”

Melodia wasn’t sure if she felt impressed or a little scared. “Other things can cause real damage...?”

“Why do you think Milly isn’t one of us already?” Angela looked at her mark, then covered it up. “She’s ready as all heck, sure, but I won’t open her to that. We fight _something_ , that much is obvious. And it hurts….a lot.”

Angela’s eyes went distant, and Abigail seemed to take this as her cue to take the reins. “It happens, yeah, but it’s rare. The last incident was when the archive was targeted. Before my time. Angela and two others were there.” She paused, then added in a lower tone, “Don’t ask her about it.”

Nodding, Melodia took the chance for a subject change. “So...how many of us are there?”

“The three of us, and whoever was picked 6 years ago.” Abigail shrugged. Melodia noted that left out the two that had been with Angela, and decided not to bring it up. “Up to 20 of us can be around at one time.”

“And...how does the deity, uh, decide who to pick?”

For some reason, Abigail grinned. “That’s the funny thing. All it seems to do is look around, see who it thinks might do a good job, then sends us to the castle for the three trials.” She ticked them off. “Entry, of course, getting past the thorns and whatever omnipresent feeling presses in on you. Then there’s a trick multiple choice in the entry hall, shows you the paths that are around you, and if you pick yourself and the door, you get to the garden. That’s where you pick your rose.”

Melodia remembered all that very well. It had felt like everyone on the planet was watching her. It was the first time her powers had worked for her rather than against her – she’d been able to cut her way through the thorns to get inside, where she’d felt completely safe. The entry hall had shown her Lance’s Voltcom and Aniko’s Duel Disk...

 _“_ _I figured if you hated both of us, you wouldn’t have to pick sides.”_

It was like Lance had said. She’d been given a choice to pick a side – him, Aniko, or herself. What would’ve happened if she’d picked the Voltcom? If she’d known about what Lance had been trying to do...would she have picked it? Or would she have been able to go forward by herself?

Suddenly she wasn’t so sure. “It can’t, like, take it away after, right?”

“Oh, no, I don’t think there’s any record of that. Once you have a rose, it’s with you until you die or you voluntarily give it up.” Abigail paused suddenly. “Oh! Right, I forgot to ask! What color did you pick?”

“Uh...green?”

There was a squeak from the couch. The girls shifted in their seats on the floor to see Angela, back in reality, her eyes almost bugging out. “I knew it!” she exclaimed happily.

Abigail snorted. “Well, _duh._ She grows plants, after all.”

Melodia turned back to Abigail, startled. “Wait, that—that’s part of this? I thought that was my powers, or...curse, or whatever.”

“No, no, the energy itself is the curse,” Angela corrected her. “The way you channel it into nature, help it grow, that’s what a Green Rose does. Healing, life...”

“...There’s a superpower thing going on here?” Melodia was starting to think she needed an instruction manual for all this.

Abigail shrugged. “Kinda? You get two or three things, usually. Blue roses are kinda all over, but I personally have night vision, divination through wind, and if I focus enough, sometimes I can teleport with shadows.” She stopped and grinned at the face Melodia knew she was pulling. “We get a bit more than the average.”

“I can divine through fire,” Angela cut in. “And I’m a little... _very_ rusty, but when I was younger I could heat things up.”

“And I...grow plants.” Melodia looked at her hands dubiously. “Because I picked the green roses?”

She saw Angela wave her hands a bit, trying to find her words. “Well, it’s...the curse sort of took over what you were supposed to get, I think. The energy you produce seems to be the basis of what you can do. You can channel it through different outlets, like into plants or in sparks and bursts. I’d imagine before you were chosen, you tended to kill plants rather than grow them?”

Melodia thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “So the rose thing is kind of helping it focus into something less dangerous,” she guessed.

“Exactly! Green roses are energizers and healers. It’s just kind of a theme. Like how people who picked blue roses tend to have more individual powers.”

She looked at her hands a bit more, contemplating all of this. Chosen by an ancient god, given a mission to guard something, given powers...It sounded really cool, when she put aside her worry.

It also sounded a lot like the Voltron Force. The Lions had accepted them as their pilots, and together with the power of Voltron, they defended the universe.

In a way, maybe she had picked up the Voltcom.

Hesitantly, she pushed up her sleeve. Her mark was the same as it had been yesterday, still a bud yet to blossom. Angela and Abigail’s marks curled around their entire forearms, the large flower resting just below their wrists. Angela had been chosen for at least ten years, and the flower’s stem was so twisted and dense that it almost covered every bit of skin. Abigail’s seemed to be heading in the same direction, given time.

That was what her arm would look like one day.

She opened her palm, letting a few sparks pop out. This deity had chosen her...was it to protect her from her curse? She was surprisingly okay with that. Some god had looked down, seen her struggling, and reached out to give her a non-destructive outlet. Was it unable to break the curse? Allura had once said something about the meddling of gods being limited. Maybe this was all it could do for her.

_“You will never be lost or alone again.”_

_Join your sisters and bloom._

It hadn’t just given her help. It had given her family.

When tears built up in her eyes, she didn’t fight them. For once, they were happy tears.

She watched the green mark grow, twirling a little more around her arm, the petals spreading out a little more.

Melodia curled up and cried tears of joy, because for the first time in years, she wasn’t alone.

Her new family huddled around her and held her tightly.

* * *

Lance came down with her suitcase two days later, using the excuse that Red Lion was the fastest. He looked a lot better than he had when she’d gone up to Arus.

He helped her pack, carefully wrapping her knickknacks in newspaper and setting them among the clothes in her suitcase. They didn’t talk much, but it was a comfortable silence.

Melodia presented her Voltcom to him, which had fried during her panic attack after Aniko’s sudden visit. He didn’t ask how it happened, just took the now junk device and set it aside.

“That,” he said with no concern at all, “is exactly the reason I had Pidge make you _this_.”

He held out a little box, maybe the size of a deck of playing cards. More than a little confused, she took it and removed the lid.

It was a bracelet, made out of white...metal? It looked like metal, and it felt like metal, but it twisted and bent in her hands like flexible plastic. The clasp was a small, silver crescent moon. Opposite this was...this looked familiar. What was it again?

She couldn’t figure it out, so she turned to Lance. He chuckled openly. “It’s the old insignia for Voltron. Way back when we first found Allura and the castle. We thought it might be a bit more incognito than the current one.”

He helped her put it on. The moon-clasp went on top, hiding the outdated logo at the inside of her wrist. “This has two functions. Tap the cross to activate the comm system, and from there it works like our early prototypes for the Voltcom. Tap it again to turn that off. If you hold down the crown for five seconds, it’ll set off an alarm in the Castle of Lions so we know that you need help. Both buttons only respond to your fingerprints, so don’t worry about activating them on accident.”

“But...what if I fry it?” It was amazing, sure, but she couldn’t use it if she killed it.

“You can’t.” His grin grew. “There’s an energy detector inside. It automatically shuts off when exposed to energy above normal human levels. It’s totally safe from both your curse _and_ your Duel Disk. After the energy is gone for two minutes, it turns itself back on.”

She stared at him. “This was made...in two weeks? It took _months_ for Pidge and Hunk to even come up with the first Voltcom’s _design!_ ”

“This is the part where I awkwardly confess that this has been a side project of mine and Pidge’s for about three years. All we _really_ had to do the past couple weeks was add in the automatic shut-off system.”

“Three... _years_?”

“Part of the whole ‘Voltron and Arus are _really cool_ and you should stay with us’ thing.” He had the decency to cringe. “But, it was almost done by the time we ah, talked, so Pidge worked a little overtime to add the shut-off so you’d have it in time for school. I told him it was so there wouldn’t be interference with the Duel Disk.”

Melodia bit her lip. There were a lot of things she wanted to say. ‘ _I’m sorry,’ ‘thank you,’ ‘this means a lot.’_

“We found something out about... _it_ a couple of days ago.” Lance was the only person who knew about the curse, and he was the only person that had even a remotely vague idea about Aniko’s issues. “It’s...probably just psychological, but...A-Aniko sets it off. Really, really badly.”

His grin faded immediately, and his tone shifted to serious. “...Is this related to the thing I’m supposed to pick up?”

“He gave me a box with figurines. Said it was from his manager. I didn’t trust it.”

With a slow breath, Lance nodded. “I understand. We’ll make sure it’s safe. Did he do anything else?”

“No, he just walked in, handed it to me, and left.”

“And then the energy thing happened.”

She felt like shrinking. Not from embarrassment or fear, just at how tired the memory made her feel. “I made it to the house with my...friends without breaking anything. I overgrew their backyard a lot, but one of them has this edible herb that calms unnatural energies, so I ate a couple of those. Then I had some cake and calm time, and they made me take a nap. And I played a kid video game after that.”

There was hesitation before Lance asked, “Are you sure you don’t want me to tell the others? See if Pidge or Allura might know something?”

She shook her head. “It’s...it’s not something I’m ready to explain, but I found something that helps. Besides the herbs and stuff. And two of my friends that are helping me will be at school.”

Lance’s gaze dropped to the floor, then rose back up to meet hers. “I know I never made it seem like you could, but you can _always_ come to me for help. I’ll drop everything, even if I’m out in the field...Unless Keith thinks what we’re doing is more important,” he added with a roll of his eyes.

Melodia mimicked his gaze’s fall and rising. “Promise?”

His pinkie finger stretched out in front of her.

She cried a little, laughed a little, and looped her pinkie around his.

 _“_ _If this pinkie swear is_ _ever_ _torn,_ _one of us will_ _wish_ _they_ _were never born.”_

How either of them remembered their stupid rhyme after eight years, she had no idea.

And she was glad it didn’t take him another six and a half years to hug her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all I have for now!! I haven't figured out how I'll go about working with the episodes yet. I also have profiles to make for everyone. Luckily they're pretty straight-forward once I get the pose figured out. And I'm already about half done with Melodia's! Hopefully I'll be able to get them all up (or at least the relevant ones) before Chapter 1. I dunno about y'all, but I love visual references.


	3. Chapter 1: Three is Far More Than Coincidence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally finished Melodia's ref sheet, the shading tried to kill my heart and soul but I survived!  
> http://fav.me/dd8pbok  
> https://mellythedork.tumblr.com/post/185411487201/well-the-shading-tried-to-kill-my-heart-and-soul
> 
> 9/25/19: The chapter art disappeared at some point and I'm not sure how or when. It's back now!

 

 

The day that Melodia went to Duel Academy, her mother was unable to send her off.

It wasn’t that Rosalie couldn’t make it. She was just too well-known across the world due to all the functions her sons attended. Her presence would be noticed in an instant. So, Melodia had to watch the other first years give goodbyes to their parents, and get their help taking their things to the staff to be packed into the Duel Academy helicopter, and try really hard not to be jealous.

That last part wasn’t working so well.

She’d gotten her suitcase packed in first, as she as the only one not distracted by family. Since no one could board until all luggage was accounted for, she’d decided to hang out near the edge of the loading area and wait, anxiously patting her messenger bag every few minutes. Even with all her worries, she couldn’t wait to put on the uniform inside once they’d arrived at the island.

She was doing something on her own. Something neither of her brothers had ever done before.

The thought definitely lifted her spirits.

Speaking of spirits, from the corner of her eye she saw Midnight Angel emerging from her usual mini light show. Melodia turned to give her a reassuring smile before the thumbs-up could occur, but all the spirit did was point aggressively behind her. Baffled, Melodia reversed her spin to see what had riled the angel up.

Riding a hot-pink scooter right into the loading area, swerving cheerfully around families, was Milly. She seemed to be looking for something. Someone?

Her?

Angela had flown out a week ago due to her staff position, and Abigail had gone with her. Milly didn’t have any reason to be there except for her.

Her heart fluttered a little with happiness. She remembered her mom making a call the other day to Milly’s mother. Had she been asking for Milly to come see her off? Or had Milly planned this on her own?

Melodia started making her way across the loading area, and Milly caught sight of her mid-swerve. She stumbled to a stop, re-positioned her scooter, and kicked over to her with one of the biggest grins Melodia had ever seen her wear. They both slowed their approach as the got closer, and Melodia let the girl close the remaining gap on her own.

Once Milly had applied the standing brake, she literally jumped her way into a hug. “Surprise!”

Melodia found herself laughing. “Did my mom put you up to this?”

“Nope!” was the cheerful reply. “Aunt Angela! And also your mom! She’s famous or something, right?”

Genuinely baffled that Angela hadn’t revealed her identity to her niece, Melodia nodded. “Yeah, she would’ve caused a huge scene just by showing up. We agreed it was best she didn’t.”

Giving one final squeeze before letting go, Milly started bouncing as she babbled. “That’s why I’m here! I brought you things too! I got you a camera, because you said you didn’t have one, and some chocolate, and the handheld gamer that’s stuck in black and white, but that doesn’t matter since the only game you played didn’t need color, and oh I brought that too, duh! I also brought one of my fairies in case you get lonely, and oh the charger for the gamer! Also one for the camera! And-”

Once again, Melodia couldn’t help but laugh. “Milly! Are you serious? All that for me?”

“Yeah! You’re the best! And I won’t be at Duel Academy ‘til next year, so I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t miss me while you were gone!” Milly shrugged off her butterfly-themed backpack and held it out to her. “There’s a secret surprise in here too! And the phone number for the house, so you can call whenever you want! Or if you want me to poke into the archives to find something!”

Hearing Milly mention something rose-related was a bit startling. Melodia had forgotten she was aware of it all. _Right, born into a family that has rose marks as basically tradition,_ she reminded herself, taking the pack. “Okay, okay, thanks. You be good for your mom and dad while I’m gone! We’ll all hear about it if you don’t!”

Her sitting charge just grinned, making her laugh a third time. Something about Milly just set off bursts of joy in her. “I don’t suppose you put your rose book in here? I wanted to study it while I’m at school.”

The book was an amalgamation of rose meanings from public knowledge and information from the archives – powers and traits usually associated with certain colors, mentions of people that were particularly memorable past chosen, even tips on how to balance and re-center oneself when emotions started overriding control over abilities. Angela had thrown it together for Milly several years ago, and the girl had lent it to her numerous times since the day Melodia had learned the others had marks as well.

“It was the first thing I packed!” Milly assured her. “You need it more than I do! Aunt Angela says I probably won’t get chosen ‘til I’m your age. But I bet I’m gonna get a pink rose!”

Melodia snorted. “There is not a single doubt about that,” she agreed. Even putting aside Milly’s love for the color, the meanings of pink roses were perfectly suited for her – joy, warmth, sweetness... She was a shoe-in.

Milly hugged her again, and they talked about anything and everything for the next ten minutes. After that, the staff started calling for the students to board. With three hugs and two promises to look for the ‘secret surprise’ only when she got to the island, Melodia boarded the aircraft.

Her being the only girl probably played a factor in literally all the other students letting her pick her seat first. She chose a seat near the middle, next to the aisle. The boy beside her introduced himself as Bastion Misawa, a name she recognized as the top scorer from the written exam. He didn’t even blink when she gave her alias in return.

Funnily enough, he was carrying a kid’s backpack as well. Apparently it belonged to his younger cousin, who’d filled it with a preemptive care package much like Milly had for her. They spent a portion of the ride comparing gifts. When they pulled out identical fairy dolls, they laughed for almost a minute straight.

Bastion had also been sorted to the Ra dorm, something that surprised her. Given he’d scored #1 on the written exam, she would’ve expected the higher Obelisk dorm. He shrugged it off, making a comment about society’s standards that spoke surprisingly deep for her. She had to bite her tongue to keep from making a return remark about her brothers.

When she told him she was in Ra as well, he was understandably confused. She had to explain how her performance anxiety had countered her high written score, so she’d take the first half of the year in Ra before testing to join the other girls in Obelisk. Bastion asked for no further details, and the subject was changed to their decks and favorite cards for the rest of the flight.

Hearing about Bastion’s multiple decks for different situations and his habit of writing equations for strategies on anything he could get his hands on, Melodia had a pretty good feeling she’d just found the ultimate study buddy. Who knew you could become best friends with someone over a pair of fairy dolls?

It seemed like only a short while had passed before one of the boys in front of them called out that the island was in sight. Most of the others pressed against the windows. Melodia simply leaned forward to see past Bastion, eager to arrive, but not particularly attached to the aerial view. Heights weren’t her strong suit.

Upon landing at the harbor, luggage was pulled out of the cargo hold so that everyone could grab their uniforms to change into. Having hers already, Melodia took the chance to find her suitcase and clip Milly’s backpack to it. She saw Bastion doing the same.

They were herded across the bridge to the campus proper, which she was able to properly appreciate now that she was firmly on the ground. She wasn’t an architect, but the design of the school was definitely cool, she could say that much. Very modern, very sleek. Having grabbed Milly’s camera, she made sure to take a photo so she could email it to her mom later.

Inside the main building, they were taken to the bathrooms in order to change. Melodia did so as quickly as she could, then stuffed her middle school uniform into her bag as she rushed to meet the others in the hall. She could have taken her time – the boys’ bathroom wasn’t large enough for all 19 of them to get changed at once – but she’d forgotten to wash her old uniform and it had been starting to itch.

Bastion came out soon after, and they took a picture together for her mom and his family. As Milly’s camera was a more recent model with internet hookup, Melodia forwarded the photo to him so that he could send it once they’d settled in.

They talked for a bit while they waited for the others, and Melodia made the mistake of mentioning Angela by name. This sent Bastion off on a babbling spree about her contributions to the world of computer science since she’d been hired 4 years ago, and how she’d aligned the technology around the school to a series of advanced power connectors to prevent blackouts and the risk of lost or corrupt data. She had also designed the student PDA, something Melodia actually did know. It was more than a little amusing to see his face when she told him Angela had been inspired by Balton technology, as she’d been granted a scholarship to one of the tech planet’s schools after she’d finished high school. Apparently Bastion hoped to be granted a similar scholarship upon his own graduation. This did not surprise her in the least.

When the others were ready, the staff once again ushered them on, this time to the main assembly hall. Ten Obelisk Blue students were already there. She was still the only girl. Was she the only female student that hadn’t come to Duel Academy for middle school?

 _You’d think with role models like Queen Allura, girls would realize they can kick just as much butt as boys can,_ she thought idly, taking her place in the lineup with the other students. Ah, well. The consequences of media and makeup, she supposed.

Chancellor Sheppard greeted them – or maybe it was a recording, she couldn’t tell. He was on the huge screen attached to the far wall, in any case. He gave a welcoming speech that sounded both a little like a general script and a little genuine. She couldn’t blame him for it; things could get in the way of speech writing. It happened to at least half the Force. There was at least some effort put in, that was noticeable.

When the greeting was over, they were finally released. After being told their luggage was waiting for them at their dorm, Melodia and Bastion decided to head over to unpack. She wanted to see if she could find Angela, too.

As they stepped outside, they passed a pair of Slifer students sitting on one of the decorative rocks near the entrance. One perked up at the sight of Bastion. “Hey, Number 2! You in Red as well?”

Melodia bit back a laugh as Bastion looked down at his uniform, then pointedly back at the student. “Does this look red to you?” he questioned, amused. “Because I fancy this being called ‘yellow’.”

“Ah, so that’s why they’re colored!” Melodia couldn’t help it this time and let out a giggle. Both boys took notice of her. “Oh! So you’re in Yellow, too!”

The other boy, this one smaller with light blue hair, looked confused. “Aren’t the girls all placed in Blue due to the dorm restrictions?”

Wondering how many times she’d end up explaining this, Melodia made it brief. “I’ll test into Blue halfway through the year. Performance anxiety.”

“Oh, I completely understand!”

She turned her attention to the first boy, a brunette. “Did you call Bastion ‘Number 2’ just now?” There were two very different things that nickname could be.

Bastion chuckled. “It’s not what you think. Jaden here claims himself Number 1, so that knocks me down to second place. Of course, he did defeat Professor Crowler, so I suppose that counts for something.”

“He did?” Melodia considered the boy again. Jaden? _He looks like a human Kuriboh,_ was her only thought. “Huh.”

“Jaden Yuki!” he said cheerfully. “You?”

“Ah, Melodia Moon.”

“I’m Syrus, Syrus Truesdale.”

Truesdale? She knew that name. “Are you-”

He interrupted her, looking resigned. “Zane Truesdale’s brother, yeah.”

 _Who?_ “A-Actually, I was going to ask if you were the Syrus Truesdale that helped the Voltron Force track down the virus that hit public transport systems last spring.”

All three of them were looking at her now. “Y-You know about that?” Syrus’s face was as red as his blazer.

“Are you kidding? I was on one of those runaway buses! I owe you big time!” She held out her hand. “You ever need anything, just ask!”

His grip was shaky, and he could only babble something semi-coherent. Jaden, meanwhile, looked amazed. “That was you? Sy, that’s awesome! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“How did you manage it?” Bastion was considering Syrus with astonishment now. “Even Pidge himself couldn’t figure it out.”

“W-Well, they were looking for a problem in the factory that made the buses and the systems and businesses that ran them. The virus was actually plugged into the vehicles themselves, not one source, so they couldn’t be shut down as a whole. It had to be done individually.” Syrus looked as flustered and pleased as Melodia felt when someone praised her. “So, shut down the bus systems, and then you just have a game of cat and mouse to track down all the ones still running because of the virus.”

That was convoluted enough that it was no wonder Pidge had asked for public help. He was a genius, sure, but who’d think that someone took the time to plant each bus individually? That would’ve taken days, if not weeks. “You stopped three dozen buses from crashing,” she reminded him. “And you saved at least a hundred people, if not more! Me included! Not everyone can say they helped the Voltron Force stop a catastrophe.”

Syrus was now trying to hide in his blazer. “I-It was just an idea that happened to be the solution.”

“They did something for you in return, right?” Melodia would call the Force right now if they hadn’t.

“O-Oh, sure, I got to tour the castle! They let me see the Lions, too.” Though still a flustered red mess, Syrus beamed at the memory. “Pidge and Hunk themselves helped me figure out some...a-ah, mechanical issues of my own!”

“Yeah? Do you build stuff?”

“Um, sort of.” He shifted a bit. “My mom won a washer-dryer set in a market lottery, but it turned out to be hijacked Balton tech and locked up due to security measures. I was able to shut down the alarm systems, but couldn’t get the machines back online. They got the set properly registered for us and even said we could call if something went wrong again.”

That definitely sounded like Pidge and Hunk. “Hey, Balton tech is super advanced, I’m impressed you managed what you did.”

Bastion nodded his agreement. “I’m not even sure I could have done it. Perhaps I’ll be seeing you in Miss Rosenburg’s robotics club?”

“Ah, m-maybe. I’ve been thinking about it.”

Melodia had noticed the robotics club being listed in the extracurricular activities. She hadn’t realized Angela was running it. It made sense, though. “I bet you’d be great! You know, she went to university on Balto.”

“She did?”

Bastion brightened as one of his favorite topics was brought up. “Of course! And did you know she also set up the-”

As she’d expected, Syrus and Bastion were soon lost in their Balto/Angela/mechanics talk. Syrus seemed to be calming down and coming out of his shell, which was what she’d hoped for.

“Hey.” Jaden’s voice was quiet, trying not to disturb the two, but it caught her attention. “Thanks. He’s been flipping out since we landed.”

Melodia shrugged. “I do what I can.”

To pass the time as their friends were in another, techy-er world, she and Jaden talked about their decks and favorite cards, much like she’d done with Bastion on the ride over. Jaden’s deck was based around the Elemental Hero archetype and Polymerization. He’d recently acquired a Winged Kuriboh as well, the same day of the practicals. It had helped him win his duel against Professor Crowler.

There was no judgment from him as she recalled her own duel. “Stage fright can happen to anyone!” as he put it, completely genuine. He was also interested in her Lunar deck, as it was an older archetype that not many people used in full anymore. He proposed that if she let him take a look at it sometime, he’d help her practice her dueling. Finding herself excited at the idea, she agreed.

Eventually, they were able to break up the geek talk by reminding their friends they still had yet to unpack. Bastion promised Syrus they could continue their conversation later, and pointed the two Slifer students in the direction of their dorm. He then joined Melodia in the walk to the Ra dorm.

When it came into view, she didn’t think much of it. It looked nice for a dorm building, sure. The yellow paint was a pleasant shade, and went well with the green roof. There was a small white pavilion beside it, where students were already sitting and chatting. The strange thing was, it looked _extremely_ familiar. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, though. It bothered her the whole way to the entrance.

It was the pair of double glass doors that made it click. The building looked almost _exactly_ like the school she’d gone to when she’d briefly lived on Arus as a kid. If the walls were sky blue and the roof brown, it would be identical, right down to the pavilion.

Bastion noticed she’d stopped as he went through the doors and backtracked to her. “Is something wrong?”

“Uh...n-no.” Shaken by the huge coincidence, Melodia pulled out Milly’s camera and snapped a photo. “It’s just...built exactly like a school I went to as a kid.”

He blinked in surprise, turning to look back at the building. “Really? That’s quite an interesting coincidence.”

“Yeah, especially since that school was on another planet.” Melodia slipped the camera back into her bag. “What do you think the chances are that they were designed by the same person?”

“If it’s identical, I’d say highly likely. Perhaps they hired the same planner. What planet was it, if you don’t mind me asking?”

She hesitated. “Ah...A-Arus. My brother had a job there.” Accurate, but vague.

Bastion nodded. “Arus’s building sense isn’t too different from Earth’s. It might be something interesting to look into.”

“Definitely...” She considered the building a bit more, then followed Bastion in.

The inside was still similar, but no longer a perfect match. The lobby held a set of couches and reclining chairs, both scattered on their own and around circular tables. A snack bar was at the immediate left, while the right wall held a large, continuous window and a sliding door to the patio. She could make out a staircase at the back and a hallway that she assumed led to the dorms. Further investigation revealed the bathrooms were behind a door just before the hallway.

They found their rooms without much problem, plates with their last name labeling each door. They poked into Melodia’s room first, finding her luggage inside and a room key on the dresser. It was a simple room, and once again familiar. This time, however, it was much more unsettling.

“This is the same set-up of my bedroom at home,” she said slowly.

Bastion turned to her, his eyebrows furrowing. “That...is far more concerning than the building matching something on Arus,” he agreed. “I think we’d best start that investigation as soon as possible.”

She nodded, feeling a lot more wary than excited suddenly. “Yeah...that would be good.” _And I think I’d better tell Lance,_ she added mentally. Conflicted feelings aside, these were two impossible and considerably frightening coincidences and he’d be able to do a lot more research than them due to his position.

They agreed to get to work on it after classes tomorrow, and Bastion left to unpack. Melodia distracted herself by doing the same, setting her knickknacks up first. The ceramic wolf she’d painted in second grade went next to the clay tablet she’d made the next year, painted with a childish, nostalgic night sky. After that was the stand for her star-shaped candles that she’d also made in third grade, during her time on Arus. The lunar queen figurine she’d gotten for her birthday the previous March was carefully set away from the edge.

Finally, the large green rose she’d accidentally preserved went on her little round coffee table. Angela had said it would pose no issues to keep it, so long as she never revealed its origins.

Her clothes were next. Gym uniform and pajamas went in the top drawer. Extra leggings, socks and underwear in the drawer below, followed by swimwear and undershirts below that. She stashed her casual clothes and boots in the bottom, along with her gym shoes.

Out of curiosity, she checked the mini-fridge next to the dresser – in her room at home, this was replaced by an end table holding her collection of chargers. She found a pack of bottled water and a small box of flavored powders for different kinds of juice. There was also a note that said she could request refills and other items from the snack bar. On top of the fridge was a coffeepot...carafe? She couldn’t remember. Her mom would know. She’d ask when she emailed her after dinner.

With most of her own things set up, Melodia started unpacking Milly’s bag. The gamer, camera and chargers went between the computer and her knickknacks. She put the chocolate in the fridge. The rose book went with her textbooks and personal reading on the bookshelf, and she slid Milly’s home phone number inside. The fairy doll was set next to the books. As she was setting her Duel Disk on the next shelf down,she found a note with a library card, presumably to help her fill the shelf.

It took her a few minutes of investigating the empty backpack to find Milly’s ‘secret surprise’. The bottom of the pack had been given an extra layer attached with velcro. Removing it revealed a card and a note.

Moon Fairy. Level 4. It didn’t have an effect, but Melodia remembered seeing this card in her duels with Milly. The note explained, _I got this in a booster pack, but since I already have one, I thought I’d give it to you!_

Milly was easily the sweetest kid she’d ever met.

As she was slipping the card into her deck, her student PDA went off. It turned out to be a voice message from Abigail.

_“Hey! Get your butt outside, I want to give you an important tour!”_

She snorted a little. After making one last check to make sure everything was in place, she made her way outside, spotting Abigail elegantly perched at the table in the pavilion. She looked every bit the part of the grand Obelisk Blue student...if one didn’t count her ridiculously curly hair.

Abigail wasted no time in jumping to her feet when she noticed Melodia. “Hey! You look great!”

“You look fancy,” Melodia chuckled. Abigail struck a pose, and they shared a brief laugh.

“Angela’s busy, but she wanted me to show you something,” Abigail told her when they’d settled. “Rose business.”

Her eyebrow raised, Melodia began following Abigail across the campus. In the few times she’d met Abigail so far, she’d never seen the other girl so focused. She tended to act more on her instincts. “Is something wrong?”

“No, but...How do I put this...There’s something that you might be able to help with.” Abigail glanced back at her. “You and your field spell.”

 _Moonlit Garden?_ “How is a card supposed to help anything?”

Abigail momentarily chewed her lip. “We may not have told you everything yet,” she confessed, turning forward again. “There are some things...Angela doesn’t want Milly to know until she’s older, so we were waiting until she wasn’t around.”

“Something besides the making damage real thing?”

Abigail didn’t answer. They walked in silence for a while, before Melodia tried to change the subject. “So, uh, Angela’s your mom?”

“Eight years now. You were wondering why I call her by name, right?”

“Ah...”

“It’s fine. She...” For a moment Abigail was quiet, thinking. “She showed up when I needed someone. I’m legally her daughter, but I see her more as a friend. Does that make sense?”

Melodia barely had to consider it. “Yeah, it does.” She could relate to that feeling a lot – Abigail and Angela already felt like family to her, and she’d only known them for a little while.

The next silence was far more comfortable, and shorter-lived. A dorm building came into view, though Melodia could tell at a glance that it wasn’t currently in use. The cream paint was faded and the blue roof was chipped and covered in patches of moss. The doors were barely on their hinges. The windows were all shattered. She wouldn’t have been surprised to see it covered in vines, but the moss on the roof was the only green past the blocked-off entry wall. The ground was brown and lifeless. It hurt.

It _literally_ hurt.

Melodia’s hand grabbed her forearm, reacting to the pain suddenly throbbing through it. She saw Abigail pushing her sleeve up, revealing that her mark was pulsing with light. Pulling back her own sleeve, Melodia found her mark was doing the same.

“When you get the chance,” Abigail said, gritting her teeth, “try to come down here and play your field spell. Angela’s been trying to cleanse this place since it was corrupted, but she doesn’t have the healing powers of a green rose.”

“What happened?” Melodia pushed aside the ‘how would a card help’ question this time, asking the other obvious question instead.

Abigail shook her head. “Something dark. She said she was able to stop the person that caused it, but the damage had already been done. There was nothing she could do to heal the area, but she managed to cure the students that were staying here and convinced Chancellor Sheppard to shut it down.” She glanced back at Melodia. “He knows, by the way. About the roses. I’m not sure if he knows about you, though.”

Somehow, Melodia wasn’t surprised. “So...it’s cursed? Kind of like me?”

“Sort of. It’s full of shadows and dark energy...unnatural things.” Abigail bit her lip again, looking pained from more than just her arm. “We’ve been able to contain it, but it’s getting worse with time. That’s why she was so excited that you were a green. Shoving positive energy into this might be able to fix it...or at the very least, halt the progress.”

Melodia looked down at her mark, still pulsing in response to...whatever was wrong with this place. The pain was starting to fade, but the sense of urgency remained. _So her pushing me to learn control over these powers was more than just for my sake,_ she realized. She couldn’t bring herself to be angry, though. “The students...were they okay?”

“They were a bit...scrambled at first. Moments of hostility and sometimes not quite...sane.” Once again, Abigail shook her head, this time fixing her gaze on the sign barring the entrance. “By containing the energy to the building and using it as an anchor to siphon it out of the students, she was able to get the third years back to normal before they graduated. I was able to help when I started middle school the next year, and the remaining students were cured before spring break. We’ve checked on them periodically since then, and there don’t seem to be any remaining side effects in anyone.”

“But if it’s getting worse, it could break the containment and affect the rest of the island,” Melodia realized.

Abigail nodded. “And as a green rose with a garden field spell, you could override the dark energy with pure energy. It’ll probably knock you out at least a day, I won’t lie, but even if one go doesn’t fix it all? It’ll still do far more than Angela or I have been able to do since it started four years ago.”

A lot of things were spinning through Melodia’s mind. Relief that the students were okay. Fear that someone had done something like this. Worry that the containment might break, and the island could be put in danger. She knew Abigail and Angela must have done their best, but their abilities weren’t focused on energy or healing. This wasn’t something they could fix.

But she could.

She could do something.

She didn’t realize she’d stepped forward until Abigail touched her shoulder. “Hey-”

“I’ll try it before winter break,” she promised. “Just tell me what I have to do.”

Abigail’s face was filled with relief. “Just put the card on the activated Duel Disk. You’ll be able to figure it out from there.” She paused. “We’ll have to tell the Chancellor you’re one of us, or you’ll get in trouble if you’re caught here.”

Melodia nodded. At this point, she knew he could keep a secret.

Following Abigail’s lead, she covered her mark and left the cursed dorm behind, so that they could return for their welcome dinners.

She made a point not to think about how it looked just like the house Aniko had moved into when he’d left home. That was a concern for after dinner.

It was becoming obvious to her that there was something suspiciously themed about the architecture here.

Along with the other Ra students that were returning to the dorm, Melodia made her way upstairs to the dining hall, where a feast was laid out across the main dining hall’s two tables. At the head of one was a man she recognized for two reasons: Professor Sartyr, head of the Ra dorm; or more personally, the man that had inspired her mother to pursue her dreams of opening her own restaurant. She made a mental note to remember to give him the letter of thanks Rosalie had asked her to pass on, but for now, she took a seat next to Bastion at the other table. The seat at her other side was quickly taken by a student named Dimitri.

Carrying a huge bouquet of yellow roses from the kitchen was how Angela made her appearance, welcoming everyone as she passed them out. Each student got one. Melodia got a quick wink with hers, and Bastion eyed her so suspiciously she couldn’t help but giggle. They followed the example of the older students and placed their roses in the little glass jars in front of them. The final roses, to no surprise, went to Angela herself and to Professor Sartyr, both of whom stood at the head of their tables and raised a glass.

“Welcome!” Professor Sartyr exclaimed. “To those joining us today, welcome to Duel Academy! We are honored to have you all here with us for your stay. Ra Yellow takes pride in its feeling of family, and we hope that you will be encouraged to great things with the support of your fellow students. And to those returning, welcome home!”

The older students raised a cheer, to which Professor Sartyr beamed.

“For those who do not know me, I am Professor Sartyr. I am your dorm head and chef, as well as the teacher of the card design class and head of the cooking and art clubs. And this lovely woman standing patiently for me to quiet down is Miss Angela Rosenberg.”

Angela gave a laugh. “Hi! I’m the school’s technical advisor and the head of the robotics and gardening clubs. You can sign up for those after classes tomorrow! We’d love to have you! I’ll be joining you in Ra Yellow for the first half of the year, watching over the young lady I’m sure hasn’t escaped your notice.” There were obvious glances in Melodia’s direction, curious and confused. “If you pester her too much, I have all rights to demote any of you to Slifer.”

Heads snapped back to stare at Angela, who was still smiling as if she hadn’t just delivered a threat. “Miss Moon, don’t let these boys push you around. We’ll be out of here before you know it.”

“Now, now, that’s quite a rough picture you’re painting of us, Miss Rosenberg!” Professor Sartyr laughed. “I’m sure our students know how to behave themselves. Miss Moon has just as much a right to be here as anyone else. That being said, if anyone has complaints or concerns that need addressed, both Miss Rosenberg and I will be happy to help. You are the bright stars of Duel Academy, and we hope to watch you grow and shine! Even if you are to leave us to Obelisk Blue during the year, you will always be welcome in the Ra family!”

“Here, here!” he and Angela cried. The students followed suit, raising their glasses.

_“Here, here!”_

“Now, let’s eat!” Angela grinned. “Professor Sartyr pulled out all the stops for this meal, so you know it’s going to be good!”

Older students applauded, causing the man to turn pink in the face as he laughed. “Oh, goodness!”

Angela wasn’t kidding – the seafood spread was beyond even her mom’s abilities. Melodia completely understood how she had been so inspired by Professor Sartyr. If it was anyone else, she’d feel like she was betraying her dreams, but as it was, she was pretty sure her mom would understand.

The students around her were eager to introduce themselves, even with Angela’s blunt threat still hanging over their heads. It might have bothered her if it weren’t so genuine – they weren’t excited because she was the sister of Aniko or Lance. They were excited because what other dorm could claim they had their own ‘angel’?

Honestly, she thought that was hilarious. She didn’t mean to laugh, but they didn’t seem to take offense when she did. It had been Dimitri to call her that, and he looked thoroughly embarrassed that it had slipped out. Bastion was quick to pick it up, taking the focus off him and clearly having far too much fun proclaiming himself ‘the angel’s knight’.

Melodia could see Angela grinning like an idiot at the end of the table. She made a mental note to elbow her later.

Speaking of mental notes, Melodia took the opportunity to ask the students around her about anything they knew of the school’s architecture. She didn’t explain why she was asking, but Bastion knew, and he helped fuel the flame. Before too long there were four other students besides the two of them, Dimitri included, who were interested enough to help them research it. The student across from her, a small green-haired boy named Brier, said he’d organize their first session in a few days. The six of them agreed to organize a chat group with their PDAs after dinner.

Shortly after the topic died down, Melodia felt a hand on her shoulder, and Angela was leaning down to whisper, “Everything good?”

“We’re behaving!” exclaimed Brier’s friend Beauregard, a larger second-year. Angela laughed, clapping Melodia’s shoulder.

“Alright, alright! That’s all that matters.” She gave Melodia a grin. “You let me know about anything, okay?”

Bastion smirked. “Trust me, I don’t think anyone is willing to cross _you_ of all people.”

“Got that right!” Angela gave his shoulder a clap too, before returning to her seat.

Dimitri let out a nervous, chittering laugh. “She won’t really demote us if we bug you, will she?”

With a snort, Melodia shook her head. “Knowing her, she’ll probably give you detention first. She’s fairer than that.”

“Yes, that reminds me!” Bastion leaned over his plate a bit, his eagerness getting the better of his manners. “You never told me how you know her.”

Beauregard and the other second-year nearly dropped their forks in surprise. “You know Miss Rosenberg?” the latter, Enzo, asked in disbelief.

“I babysat her niece over the summer,” she explained. “She kind of took me under her wing because of it, I guess.”

“Oh, Milly?” Beauregard nodded. “She visited over winter break last year, stayed in Ra with me and the only other two students that didn’t go home.”

Brier snickered. “And by that, he means she scared Enzo half to death by being curled up on one of the entry couches when he got up to get some water!”

“We still don’t know how she got in,” Enzo admitted, shaking his head. “All the doors were locked.”

Melodia grinned. “Were the windows?”

“...She wouldn’t-”

“I got to her house one day to find her halfway hanging out of a second-story window. She was outside when her mom went to work and she accidentally locked her out.”

The booming laughter that came from the so-far quiet Beauregard startled her. Brier and Enzo soon followed, and once she got over her shock, she did too.

“So, do you know what’s up with the roses, then?” Dimitri asked when they’d settled, poking at the flower in his vase.

“Oh, roses are part of a lot of her family’s traditions.” Melodia took the rose from her own vase, spinning the de-thorned stem between her fingers. “I think...if I remember right, yellow roses symbolize things like new beginnings and welcoming someone or something back. So it’s kinda just coincidence that it’s the dorm’s color, too.”

Enzo nodded. “She hands them out all the time. We’ll have full bouquets by the end of the year.”

“Won’t these ones and several others have wilted by then?” Bastion pointed out.

“You’d think that, but she uses some kinda magic to preserve them. I’ve still got all the roses from last year back home!” After a pause, Enzo looked to Melodia, and she could already tell what he was going to ask. She quickly shook her head.

“Sorry, but any magic she has is out of my knowledge,” she fibbed. “You could probably ask her if you’re really curious.”

“Technology _and_ magic,” Bastion mused. “That’s not a combination you hear of very often.”

“Balto,” both Melodia and Beauregard reminded him. He laughed.

“True, true. She must have picked up quite a few tricks there.”

To no surprise, the topic of Angela and her studies took over for the rest of the meal. Melodia excused herself a little early, wanting to run to the restroom before people started flooding in. Once that was done, she popped into her room to get her mother’s letter from her suitcase, then made her way back upstairs. She approached Professor Sartyr hesitantly – she knew her mother had included a mention of her hidden identity within the letter, but Melodia had been willing to admit to it so her mother could thank the man that had inspired her. One teacher aside from Angela wasn’t too bad, and he seemed fairly easygoing so far.

Professor Sartyr was speaking to the student at his right, so she waited until the conversation lulled to step in. “Professor Sartyr?”

He turned, his smile widening. “Ah, Miss Moon. What can I do for you?”

Extending the letter, she explained, “My mother wanted me to pass this to you. The cooking competition you led six years ago inspired her...well, she put it all in here.”

There was a warm glow in his eye as he took the letter. “I’ll read this once I’ve settled in for the night,” he assured her. She nodded, watched him slip it into his blazer, then returned to her seat, where the boys were talking about some scientist she’d never heard of.

Before she could sit, Bastion tapped her arm. “Say, could I talk to you for a moment?”

“Oh, sure.”

He stood, and once again she walked down the stairs, this time with company. They stopped in the entry hall, empty of anyone else, and enough privacy for Bastion to speak. “When you brought up your interest in the architecture...” He fumbled for words. “It sounded as if you’d noticed something else familiar since we saw the dorm rooms? Or perhaps I misunderstood?”

“Ah-” She hadn’t realized her expression had been so open during that. “No, you’re right. Uh...I was out with Angela’s daughter, Abigail. She was showing me the abandoned dorm? The Obelisk one.” He nodded, his raised eyebrow telling her he hadn’t known about it. “Well, it...It looks like my brother’s house.”

The first eyebrow was joined by its twin. “Three is far more than coincidence.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m not really sure what to say. I can’t think of any explanation.” He frowned, lifting a hand to his chin in thought. “Your brother lives on Earth?” She nodded. “A house and a room on Earth, and a school on Arus...you don’t suppose there might be more?”

Melodia bit her lip. “I don’t know. If we could find a way to look at the other dorms and their rooms...”

“Jaden and Syrus would likely have no issue letting us look around the Red dorm. Abigail may be willing to give you a tour of the girls’ dorm as well...” He tapped his chin a few times. “Touring the campus itself shouldn’t prove difficult, as we’ll be moving around it for classes. As for the male Obelisk dorm...the library might have something. Or failing that, when someone is promoted, they can show us photos...”

He trailed off, giving her a worried look. “Listen, we’ll figure this out. I promise.”

Kicking at the floor a bit, she nodded. “Yeah.”

“...Since we’re out here, why don’t you and I set up the chat group? Dinner seems to be winding down, we can get the others invited before everyone heads off to settle in for the night.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Any progress was good.

They sat at one of the tables and spent the next ten minutes or so fiddling with their PDAs and flipping through the manual, working out how to make the group. Since Brier had volunteered as group organizer, they planned to shift ownership of the group to him once he was in, but for the time being Melodia took it.

After the group was made, they returned upstairs to retrieve their roses and ensure the others had gotten their invites. Promises to meet after classes the next day were made, and Melodia broke off to head to her room.

As soon as the door was locked and her new rose was set carefully next to her knickknacks, Melodia sat down on the bed with Milly’s camera. It took her a while to figure it out, but she managed to send the photo of the Ra dorm to Lance’s Voltcom, once she’d dug out the notebook that held the instructions on how to do so. When that was done, she spent a moment staring at her communicator, then shook her head and activated it, filling her mind’s eye with the thought of Lance.

There was a brief crackle as the connection was made. _“Dia?”_

“Hey.” How did one talk to their older brother? She had no idea. “Uh, I sent you an image. Do me a favor and take a look?”

The buzz of a hologram appearing briefly blocked out all other noise from Lance’s end. After that, _“This looks familiar.”_

Pushing her shoes off, Melodia brought her legs up onto the bed with her. “It’s the dorm I’m staying in. Imagine it blue with a brown roof.”

A few seconds passed. _“Wait a minute-”_

“That’s not all. The bedrooms are set up just like the one I have at home. And one of the other dorms looks like Aniko’s house.”

Lance let out a heavy breath. _“That’s not...that can’t be right. How would...”_

“I was able to ask some of my dorm mates to help me research the architecture without letting on why, but I was wondering if...you’d be willing to look into it, too. You have a lot more resources than we do.”

 _“_ _Of course, of course! I’ll get on it right away. This doesn’t make any sense...”_ He sighed again. _“Whatever this is, we’ll get it figured out.”_

Hugging her legs, Melodia quietly answered, “Thank you.”

 _“_ _Other than that, everything okay? No big problems?”_

“It’s been good. No one seems to recognize me. I accidentally befriended probably the smartest student in the entire school.”

 _“_ _Hah! Nice work, that oughta help keep your grades up. How’d you manage that?”_

“We sat next to each other on the ride over, and his cousin gave him the same fairy doll that Milly Fae gave me.”

Lance cracked up at that, and for a short moment, it startled her. She’d heard him laugh hundreds of times over the years, of course, but...this was probably the first time it had been directed at her for a very, very long time.

“Thank you,” she whispered again. She wasn’t sure if he heard it, but she wanted to say it anyway.

They talked for a few more minutes, trying to work out a light conversation, but they both decided that it really wasn’t working and the awkwardness wasn’t worth it. Lance let her know that they hadn’t found anything particularly strange in the figurines, but Pidge was still investigating just to be sure. A definite answer would be available by winter break.

When she hung up and fell backwards on the bed, she tried to sort through her feelings about the call. He hadn’t mentioned the Force even once. Hadn’t suggested she join any athletic clubs or teams. Hadn’t asked if she was keeping fit.

He’d just talked about her. Her school, her friends, her problems.

It was weird. He’d done a complete one-eighty since learning she was going to Duel Academy, worrying about her for suddenly all the right reasons. She’d never made it a secret how much she disliked him, but her admission that she felt he was pushing her too hard had broken him in an instant. He’d needed reassurance just to be able to function properly again. Now he was pressing to know what _she_ wanted to do, what _she_ was interested in. With the threat of her turning into Aniko shoved aside, with her being completely blocked off from him, Lance was...

It felt like maybe he was trying to make up for lost time?

Staring up at the ceiling, she exhaled sharply. She was still angry with him about everything he’d done, that hadn’t changed. Every time she tried to think about it, her mind ended up focusing on something else instead. It was frustrating...and tiring.

Lance was trying to act like nothing had happened. She couldn’t do that. Even if he wanted to put it in the past as quickly as possible, she wouldn’t be able to so easily. She didn’t know if she ever would at all.

And she had no idea how to bring it up.

After rolling around on her bed in frustrated confusion for probably longer than she should have, Melodia got up and sat down at her computer, signing in so she could write an email to her mom to assure her that she’d settled in just fine. She didn’t make any mention of the twin architectures. Melodia trusted her mom, but she wasn’t willing to open that door of worry unless she absolutely had to.

The email had been sent and she was watching the others enter the group chat, picking their nicknames and profile images – she’d gone simple, calling herself “Moon” and picking a matching image – when there was a knock at her door. Angela was waiting on the other side, holding out a green rose and wearing a cheeky grin.

“I come with a peace offering,” she said, “in hopes that you’ll let me do a teacher thing for you.”

Deciding to question where the rose had come from later, Melodia tackled the more important subject at hand. “What kind of teacher thing?”

“The psychological kind. Can I come in?”

Melodia stepped aside, and her teacher/mentor entered. She was on the couch by the time the door was re-locked, and the green rose had joined the yellow in the vase. “Vague or blunt?” she asked.

“Blunt.”

“Chancellor Sheppard and I think you should see a therapist.”

All she could do for the first few seconds that rolled around was blink. Angela waited patiently as she processed. A _what?_

“No,” she said, a little more harshly than she intended as memories of past therapists rose to the surface. She’d run through several after her powers had shown up, her mother seeing her sudden fear and anxiety and wanting to find her help. All they’d done was compare her to her brothers and make things worse. They were probably the only people she’d ever met that she was sorry she hadn’t zapped.

Well, except Aniko and the Princetons.

And maybe Lance.

As Angela opened her mouth again, she repeated firmly, “No.”

“Why?”

“Because they’ll suck up and try to make me think I should like my brothers no matter what.”

“This one won’t know who you are.”

Melodia bit back her next retort, Angela’s comment completely shutting it down. That _was_ the only problem. Denying that would be lying, and she had a feeling Angela was aware of that.

She stared at the window curtains. “Who?”

“We technically don’t have any specialized licensed therapists on the island, but there is someone that functions as a general counselor,”Angela admitted. “Lyman Banner, the head of the Slifer dorm. He knows about the roses, and he’s probably the best person at keeping secrets that I’ve ever met in my life.”

Melodia wasn’t convinced, and it was clearly obvious to Angela, because she added, “Even if he did find out who you were, I can promise you – I’ll make you a bet and everything – that he’d just think about it, nod, and never mention it again unless you did first.”

“...Why do you think I need one?”

“You showed up at Milly’s house and broke down in a panic attack because Aniko showed up unannounced.”

“And Chancellor Sheppard?”

“He’s seen you over and over through the years. I can’t say for sure, but he apparently noticed something that worried him.”

Realizing she was scowling at the window, Melodia grit her teeth and tried to calm herself. She could see that Angela was making a lot of good points. Professor Banner had no reason to connect her with her brothers, and she’d be able to vent about them essentially anonymously. Angela apparently trusted him enough that he knew about the roses. And if she had problems that were obvious enough that Chancellor Sheppard had noticed them at public functions while she was bottling everything up...

There was no logical reason for her to refuse.

That didn’t mean she wanted to accept, though.

“If I tell you I’ll think about it, will you give me time to decide?”

Considering her for a moment, Angela nodded. “I can give you a week. After that, we need an answer.”

“Does Professor Banner know?”

“We haven’t mentioned it to him yet, but there’s always one or two students that see him throughout the year, so he’ll be expecting someone. Even if it’s not you.”

Melodia unclenched her fists, belatedly figuring out why her hands were hurting. “I’ll let you know.”

“Okay. Goodnight.”

“Night.”

Angela let herself out, and Melodia spent the next ten minutes doing breathing exercises. She’d need to pick somewhere to discharge, she realized as she fiddled with the tap, letting a few sparks spring harmlessly into the air. The cursed dorm would probably work. Maybe it would even help fix it. She wouldn’t know until she tried.

Deciding she’d had quite enough excitement for one day, Melodia grabbed her toothbrush and headed for the bathroom. The boys already there gave her room, and she was in and out within a few minutes. She was definitely okay with that perk of being the only girl in the dorm.

Taking her hair down and changing into her pajamas, Melodia noticed something that was different than when she’d seen it at the cursed dorm.

Her rose mark was in full bloom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, chapter 2 is done, but I'm going to finish Abigail's ref sheet first! If I pace myself with this I'll have all the visual refs done in no time.


	4. Chapter 2: I Don't Want To

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have it finished so I may as well post it!  
> Speaking of things that are finished, Angela and Abigail's ref sheets are too!
> 
> Abigail: http://fav.me/dd8pvqo / https://mellythedork.tumblr.com/post/185415556926/i-dont-know-why-abigail-was-so-much-easier-to  
> Angela: http://fav.me/dd8qrui / https://mellythedork.tumblr.com/post/185422150921/look-idk-what-to-say-its-half-an-hour-past
> 
> With that out of the way, a very special disclaimer for this chapter: Its existence is something I blame on three things -  
> 1) My friend Jazz who created the beyblade mafia AU  
> 2) The Yu-Gi-Oh Tag Force games having a character named Enzo  
> 3) The Beyblade Metal Fight series having a character named Enzo

                                   

 

Melodia’s first day of classes went about as expected.

Being the only girl in the Ra dorm only made her popular with her dorm mates and those in Slifer. The Obelisk students – even some of the girls – shoved past her as if she wasn’t there, laughed behind her back and sometimes to her face, and two of them even asked what she was doing at Duel Academy if she couldn’t even reach the default girls’ dorm.

She’d be mad if it wasn’t so weirdly exciting. She’d never been made fun of before. After the Incident six and a half years ago, everyone had tread so lightly around her as if afraid she would snap, just because her brother was the reassigned Lance Farstrike. The fact that she’d gained her powers shortly before it happened didn’t help matters. Any friends she had were only surface-level for at least three years, before a few finally broke through.

And a year and half a year ago, when Voltron had been illegally recommissioned, everyone had simply pretended she didn’t exist. Her brother, once a hero, was now considered a criminal. But how quickly they’d changed their minds when Voltron had proved they were needed, proved they were still the defenders of the universe.

Suddenly everyone wanted to be her friend. No – friends with Lance’s sister. Friends with Aniko’s sister.

She’d barely finished middle school without hurting someone.

Only four people on this island knew who she was. To everyone else, she was just another student.

It wasn’t annoying. It was exciting. And a little hilarious.

 _If I ever do get exposed, they’re gonna flip their lids,_ she thought, grinning to herself as she walked down the hall with Bastion, Dimitri, and Brier, heading back to class after lunch. _These may just be the best three years of my life if I play it right._

When Dimitri asked why she was smiling, she told him one of the corniest jokes she could remember from Lance’s repertoire. All three of them groaned, while her smile only grew.

She was introduced to Professor Banner during their afternoon classes, as he taught, of all things, alchemy. Many of the Obelisk students snickered practically the entire class, along with a few from Ra, but most of her dorm mates and all of Slifer paid close attention, even those that were falling asleep. She wasn’t sure if it was Professor Banner’s choice of words or perhaps a sign that the Slifer dorm wasn’t a great place for sleep.

Professor Banner was a calm man, completely unaffected by the snickers in the back rows. His jokes were slightly over your head, but when you thought about them for a moment, they usually clicked. His cat Pharaoh spent half the class sleeping on his chair, and the other half winding through the students’ seats before settling in to nap under a Slifer’s desk. She was a little jealous of that – she loved cats. She’d have three by now if her mom wasn’t allergic.

She still wasn’t sure about the whole counseling thing that Angela had suggested, but by the time Professor Banner switched out with the next teacher, she’d decided she wouldn’t count it out quite yet. She’d see how his classes went and what kind of person he was, and go from there.

When classes were over, they met up with Beauregard in the main campus lobby. Bastion was quick to ask where Enzo was, but Beauregard confessed he didn’t know. Enzo had been called out of class in the second-to-last period for some kind of visitor.

They tried the chat group for a bit, but Enzo never responded. Brier suggested they try to catch him at dinner and possibly find out what had happened. Melodia hoped everything was okay. You didn’t just get a visitor on the first day of school.

To get their minds off it for now, Dimitri suggested they started checking out the clubs. There were four meeting Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays – cooking, gardening, debate, and occult. Beauregard was interested in cooking, and both Bastion and Dimitri were intrigued by debate, so the group decided to check those two and leave the other two for Wednesday.

Debate was closest, taking place in the third-year classroom. A collection of students was already there, welcoming each other back after the summer break. The professor in charge of the girls’ dorm and the gym class, Fonda Fontaine, was the overseeing teacher for the club.

Bastion and Dimitri fell into good graces with the club members right away, and Melodia had no doubt they’d already found their first club. After waiting for ten minutes, she realized they wouldn’t be leaving, so she led Beauregard and Brier out to find the cooking club.

They found the club in a general kitchen on the campus, and only a few students were there with Professor Sartyr. Melodia wasn’t particularly interested in the club, but she could tell Beauregard was hooked. He found a friend from his first year, Chumley Huffington, who was currently the president of the club, and before long he was signing up. Brier was quick to follow.

Melodia left them to it, waving to them and to Professor Sartyr as she left. He hadn’t said anything that day about the letter from her mother, but that only cemented her thought that he could be trusted with her secret. Besides that, she was getting antsy after being around so many people for hours, and she still hadn’t found a place to discharge. She only had until Wednesday before she risked overloading.

Using her PDA, she accessed the island map and started wandering. The abandoned dorm was a possibility, of course, with her rose turning her psychic powers to positive energy. The beach would likely work as well, at least while it was cold and no one would go there. She and Angela had tested what was affected by her energy, and sand didn’t react. Anywhere in the forest was easy, and she could spread it out to keep the sudden growth from looking suspicious.

There was also the power plant...no, best not. Even if Angela had done something to it, and even if her power wasn’t harmful now, it wasn’t worth the risk. Maybe if a blackout got past Angela’s system and it needed a recharge.

 _So the old dorm, the beach, or the forest._ Three choices. Trying the dorm first was smart, she could see if discharges made it better or worse. If it didn’t work out, the forest was about five feet away, and when she was done she could step right back over and work on the dorm with her field spell.

Ah...right. She needed to figure that out, too. Walking to the abandoned dorm with her Duel Disk was a bit suspicious. Maybe she could ask Angela to have one put out there for her? Yeah, she could mention it after dinner. There was still time before that...she could pop over and see if her general powers would work—

“ _Damn it!”_

An angry voice in the distance pulled her from her thoughts. Startled, she looked around, both trying to find the source and get her bearings. She remembered passing the Ra dorm, so she was likely somewhere between it and the Obelisk area…

Was that Enzo?

At the sight of the yellow blazer by the edge of the forest, she changed her course and walked toward it, baffled and heavily concerned when she realized he was punching a tree. She stuffed her PDA into her pocket and sped up, calling out to him. “Enzo! Enzo, is that you?”

The student jolted, turning in her direction and confirming her suspicions. She ran to close the rest of the distance, while he tried to hide his hands in his pockets. “Hey! Hey, Beauregard said you got called out of class, is everything okay?”

“I’m _fine.”_

His sharp tone made her stumble, her mind flashing back to a million moments with Aniko. She shook it off, stopping a few feet away from him. “Enzo, c’mon. What’s wrong?”

_“Nothing.”_

“People don’t punch trees over nothing.” Melodia took a glance at said tree, and felt her face go cold. “Oh my god, is that _blood?”_

For a moment, his anger faltered. “N-No, it’s-”

“Enzo, gimme your hands-” Melodia lunged, grabbing for his arm. He jolted back, and she froze with her hands extended, the panic in his eyes way too clear. Slowly, she reversed her step, lowering her arms slightly. “Enzo,” she tried again, “I’m not going to hurt you. Just let me see your hands.”

He stepped back again. She didn’t follow. “Enzo, when you punch a tree so hard you bleed, you get splinters lodged into your knuckles, and those can get infected,” she said, trying to sound as calm as possible. “I don’t know what’s freaking you out, and you don’t have to tell me, but we need to get those hands cleaned up. Just let me take you to Miss Fontaine-”

Another step back. “Okay, not the nurse. What about me? We can use the first aid kit in the dorm lobby. No staff involved.” She was getting a really bad feeling about this, but if she’d learned even one thing from Lance’s attempts to teach her how to hero, it was that she had to play along with the panicked teenager or she’d lose him. “You don’t have to tell me anything. We just met, it’s none of my business. But you’re my _friend_ and I want to help you.”

Enzo didn’t step back. She shifted her foot forward an inch, and he tensed, but he didn’t make an attempt to run. “We clean it up, we wrap it, you don’t need to say a word. Okay?”

He eyed her warily. “No teachers?”

“No teachers. Not even Angela.”

“You swear it?”

“I swear it, Enzo. I’ll grab the kit, we’ll take care of this, and no one else finds out. Alright?”

“...Alright.”

“I’ll be right back.” She started walking away, still facing him. “Okay?”

“Okay.”

She took a few more backward steps, watching him carefully, before she turned around and sprinted for the dorm.

Whatever was going on with Enzo, she at least knew that his wounds were his own doing. No one had hurt him. There was no reason to report this – she had no evidence and no leads to tell her anything otherwise. It was the first day, something had ticked him off. It happened. Stress happened.

She’d just keep an eye on him for a while.

To her relief, Enzo was still where she’d left him when she returned with the kit and a bottle of water. After rinsing off the blood, she took the tweezers and started plucking out any splinters she could find. “Enzo, you clean this every day until it’s gone, understand? And if it gets worse, _promise_ me you’ll go to Miss Fontaine. You’re not the only person who’s ever punched a tree.”

Staring at the ground between them, all Enzo did was nod. “Okay. Now I’m gonna make sure I got them all out, and this might sting.” Another nod.

Putting away the tweezers, Melodia took both his hands, careful not to aggravate the wounds as she did so. Once she had a firm grip, she turned the tap on to ‘jolt’.

Energy crackled around their hands, two splinters flying out in response. She reset the tap, sending another jolt, and this time there was nothing. “Shake your hands out,” she instructed, pulling hers back to do the same as she shut the tap. He did so, his gaze now lifted in confusion. He hadn’t even flinched.

“Some people punch trees, some people jolt splinters out of those people with energy,” she joked, trying to smile. “Angela taught me. Milly tends to fall out of trees.”

He nodded, seeming somewhat calmer. She was able to clean and dress the wounds without further issue. “Every day,” she reminded him as she closed up the kit.

“Every day.”

After a moment of hesitation, she stood up and nodded. “See you at dinner?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

Whatever was going on with Enzo was his business, and unless she was given reason to believe she should do otherwise, she’d stay out of it.

When the group met for dinner, Enzo brushed his bandages off as trying to blow off some steam over the teasing from a group of Obelisks when he’d gone to see his visitors. His brothers, apparently, dropping off something he’d left at home. No one else gave it a second thought.

Melodia tried not to, either.

* * *

“He got called out again?”

Beauregard nodded, frowning with concern. Dimitri shook his head, “This is weird. You don’t think his brothers are like, trying to pull him out or something, do you?”

“I’m not sure,” Beauregard admitted. “Last year he mentioned they didn’t really like dueling, but he never said anything about them trying to stop him from coming to school.”

Melodia bit the inside of her mouth, thinking back to her encounter with Enzo the day before. Punching a tree was definitely an understandable response to your brothers trying to keep you from what you wanted to do.

“Is there something we can do?” Brier asked. “He loves dueling. He said it’s been his dream since he was a kid.”

Bastion shook his head regretfully. “I’m afraid this is a family matter he’ll have to work out on his own. The best we can do is encourage him while he handles this.”

“Last night he said he was interested in the music club, right?” Melodia tried to pull the subject in another direction. “Maybe he’ll be there. Let’s go take a look. And the music room is right next to art, so we can look at that club, too. I know Beauregard wanted to join.”

With heavy sighs, the boys agreed, knowing there was nothing they could do. Melodia had the weirdest flashback to the group of boys she’d ended up leading around in first grade, back when Lance was still cool and she loved being called ‘Voltron’s sister’ or whatever it was. Maybe Lance had been onto something over the years after all – she had the uncanny habit of being a leader.

 _Well, if it keeps them off Enzo’s back, I’ll take it,_ she decided, being the first off the lobby couches.

Art club was the first in the hallway, so they stopped there first, and Beauregard was instantly in love. She knew he wanted to be a game designer, so it was no surprise to her. Chumley was even there, and of course Professor Sartyr. Melodia had no worries about him being in the wrong hands.

Once Beauregard had signed up, they all headed for the music room, and there was Enzo coming from the other end of the hall. He looked tired, and he jumped a bit when he noticed them. “Oh, g-guys. What are you doing here?”

Before Dimitri could babble out something possibly incriminating, Bastion took charge. “We decided to look into the art and music clubs today, hoping we might catch you. Beauregard’s already signed up for art, so why don’t we pop into music together?”

Enzo’s gaze briefly flashed to Melodia. “Ah, yeah, sure. Sounds good.” He sounded surprisingly convincing.

With everyone else hesitating, Melodia was the first to the door. “You know, I used to sing a lot as a kid. In third grade my choir won the elementary competition in the UK.”

Though most of them looked confused, Enzo’s eyes lit up. “‘Lighthouse of the North’?”

“Yeah! God, even now I can’t get it out of my head.” She pulled the door open, leading the boys inside. She joined Enzo in breaking the ice with the other members, genuinely considering the club for a while, but ultimately decided she’d wait to choose until she’d seen the other clubs that met on the same schedule. It was exciting enough to join the members’ chanting for him to join, after he’d belted out a perfect rendition of her old choir song. Watching him sign up put a warm feeling in her chest.

A girl approached her before they left, one Melodia remembered seeing the day before in the debate club. “37, right? The girl with the Midnight Angel.”

 _Oh, shoot._ “Uh, yeah. That’s me.” _Don’t ask about it, don’t ask about it._

“I remember seeing you with these guys yesterday.” The girl smiled, more genuinely than Melodia had expected. “Alexis Rhodes. Are you joining?”

“Ah, Melodia Moon. And I’m not sure yet, I figured I’d make my choices after I’d seen everything.”

“Smart move. I’m still trying to decide between music and astronomy myself.” Alexis chuckled. “Any contenders for you so far?”

“Thinking about cooking,” Melodia admitted. “I’m not really good at it, but it would be fun to surprise my mom over winter break, y’know?”

“Oh yeah, totally! I did that last year.” Alexis paused for a moment. “Do you know Abigail? Miss Rosenberg’s daughter. She’s got a Midnight Angel too.”

Melodia’s mouth was half-open, ready to answer before Alexis had finished. It took her a moment to find her voice. “I-I’m sorry, she what?”

“Yeah, I’ve seen her use it all through middle school. Then you show up with another one, I thought they were out of print.”

“They are.” Melodia ran through her few meetings with Abigail, trying to remember if she’d ever mentioned the card. They’d looked through each other’s decks...they’d dueled once. She’d never seen it. “I’ll uh, ask her about it. Thanks.”

Melodia excused herself, trying to keep her composure. When Alexis had mentioned Midnight Angel, she definitely hadn’t expected to hear there was another one in the school. As she and the boys left the classroom, she found herself glancing around for the spirit, but it was nowhere in sight.

 _Another Midnight Angel…_ she mused. _Those went out of print about eight years ago. I don’t even remember how I got mine…_

It was interesting, that was for sure. They were considered pretty rare these days… Oh, wait a minute. Abigail and the others knew Midnight Angel popped up around her. She probably hadn’t mentioned she had a copy because of that.

The thought was enough to satisfy her. If Abigail wanted to mention it, she would. It wasn’t Melodia’s business if she didn’t.

Angela told her after dinner that she’d gotten a Duel Disk out to the cursed dorm, and Melodia promised to give things a go after she checked clubs the next day.

While she was getting ready for bed, she got a voice message from Abigail.

_“Keep an eye on your friends. Winds are giving bad signs for someone in Ra tomorrow. Angela’s going to watch, too.”_

Well, that wasn’t ominous at all.

* * *

“I’m looking for him,” she announced before Beauregard could even say anything. Once again, Enzo wasn’t with him, and three days plus Abigail’s warning was too much for her to ignore now. “You guys go ahead and look at the other clubs. I’ll catch up.”

They tried to argue, wanting to join her, but she shot them down. If something happened, she couldn’t guarantee she could protect them, and she wasn’t going to risk that. When they finally promised not to follow her, she sprinted outside, heading on instinct for the stretch of forest she’d found Enzo in two days before. Once she’d reached it, she slowed her pace, trying to move as silently as possible.

It wasn’t long before she started hearing voices. She made her way toward them, the words becoming clearer as she got closer.

“-gone on long enough, we humored you last year but this is too much!” Male, adult, very angry. If he wasn’t so ticked, his voice might be a bit more pleasant to listen to. “You need to drop this, Enzo. Come home already!”

“Ian’s right.” Another male, another adult. This voice sounded kind of scratchy, not as pleasant as the first. He had a much calmer tone, however. “This whole dueling thing is... _ridiculous,_ I don’t even know how you got it into your head in the first place. Your place is home, helping the family.”

“I don’t want to-” Enzo’s voice, cut off by the first.

“This kind of attitude is _exactly_ why Selen is dead!”

_Hold the frik up, what?_

Figures caught her eye, and she ducked behind the closest tree, peeking out carefully. Enzo was standing with two men, looking similar enough to him to be brothers. They wore suits and exasperated expressions. Enzo’s back was to her, but she could see his fists clenched at his sides, his shoulders hunched.

“Selen isn’t dead!” Enzo shot back. “You just say that because she ran off, because she didn’t want any of this! And I’m starting to think she had the right idea!”

“Selen died the minute she walked away from this family!” the second man retorted. “She sullied the Garcia name, made us look like fools!”

“The only reason we let you come here was to get this nonsense out of your system,” the first – Ian – added crossly. “You knew that from the start, and now it’s time to get your head out of the clouds!”

_Garcia? Garcia, why does that name sound familiar?_

“You’re the ones spewing nonsense! I’m not joining your damn mafia, Argo! I’m staying right here at Duel Academy!”

“This isn’t a _choice,_ Enzo-”

_snap_

As soon as the twig snapped under her foot, Melodia turned and bolted.

_Crap crap crap crap crap this is bad this is bad—_

Enzo was the younger brother of the mafia boss that Lance had kicked the snot out of three years ago.

Enzo’s brother was trying to convince him to give up dueling to join him.

_I’ve gotta tell someone._

She didn’t even make it to the edge of the forest before someone grabbed her from behind, pressing a cloth against her face. She fumbled for her bracelet, but she’d already breathed in, and her consciousness was fading fast.

“There we go,” she heard Ian mumble before everything turned black.

* * *

 _Crap,_ was her first thought when she gained consciousness, sitting in a helicopter with her wrists handcuffed to the rail beside her.

 _Lance,_ was her second thought, as she jostled her hands around to get to her bracelet.

 _Quiet,_ was her third thought, tapping the cross instead of pressing the crown, and her fourth thought was once again _Lance_ as she made the connection.

“And Sleeping Beauty awakens,” came the unpleasant voice of Argo Garcia at her left, just as she heard the comm click on.

“This is illegal,” she stated. “Kidnapping is illegal.”

There was silence from her wrist, but she knew Lance was there. She planned to make sure he heard as much incriminating evidence as possible.

Argo gave a laugh. “Kidnapping! Ian, she thinks we kidnapped her. Isn’t that cute?”

“Adorable,” Ian agreed, appearing at his brother’s side. Melodia shoved down the thought of electrocuting his stupid glasses.

 _Oh, god, I haven’t discharged yet,_ she realized. Well, at least if she overloaded, she might take down a mafia boss and his second hand with her.

“Miss Melodia Moon,” Ian continued, holding up a student PDA – hers, of course. Great. “A friend of Enzo, according to this chat group.”

“We just wanted to ask you for a little favor, Miss Moon,” Argo said. If he hadn’t had her knocked out and handcuffed into a helicopter, he might have sounded cordial. “Our little brother’s a bit confused, see. Acting out, like all teenagers do, doesn’t want to come home. We were hoping you could help us out. Convince him he’s being...”

“Silly,” Ian supplied.

Once again, Melodia shoved down her energy. _I will not zap his stupid smirk, I will not zap his stupid glasses-_ “I’ve known him all of three days, I don’t think I’m going to be much help.”

She was a little tempted to open the tap at Argo’s grin. “Oh, I think you’ll do fine. And in return, we’ll do you a favor as well.” From his jacket pocket came out a deck of cards, the bottom one—

For a moment, all rationality left her. “Gimme back my cards!” she shouted, trying to lunge at them in panic. Her wrists held her back, the cuffs biting at her. She swore, wincing at the pain, but grateful that it brought her back to her senses. She shut the tap before it leaked open, knowing it would knock out her comm. _Breathe. Breathe, Dia._

“Midnight Angel’s a very valuable card,” Argo commented, turning the deck to see it himself. “You’re quite lucky to have it. It’d be a shame to take such a wonderful card out of this deck.”

“We’d be more than happy to give the whole thing back if you just remind Enzo where he’s needed,” Ian finished. “I think two hours should be enough time, right?”

 _They don’t know you. They don’t know what you’re doing. Stay calm, act scared, and you can grab Enzo and hide until Lance gets here._ “Don’t sell my card,” she begged. “Please, my mom gave me that card.” She had no idea who gave her the card, but the sentiment remained.

Her deck disappeared back into Argo’s jacket. “Your card won’t go anywhere if you can bring Enzo out here in two hours. If not, well...”

Melodia swallowed, not having to act quite as much as she wished she did. “Okay. Okay, I promise.”

Argo nodded to Ian, who walked over and unlocked her cuffs. She was pushed to the door and shoved out when it opened, unable to keep her balance and falling onto the landing pad face-first. She heard them both laugh before the door was closed.

Stumbling onto her feet, she wobbled her way down to the loading dock, only grabbing her wrist when she was hidden by the wall of the storage unit the pad was on. “Lance-”

_“Fifty-five minutes. Find your friend and hide.”_

“Lance he has my cards, he has-”

_“I’ll get them back. You get to safety.”_

Biting back tears, Melodia whimpered her answer and took off toward the bridge, her energy breaking the tap open and shutting down her communicator. She released sparks the whole way to the Ra dorm, catching the attention of several students, but she found that she couldn’t bring herself to care. Lots of people had magic. So what if people knew hers was unstable? They already made fun of her anyway.

Enzo was pacing in the pavilion and she crashed into him, her energy pulling at his hair and growing it out by several inches. “Enzo—Enzo we need to hide, we need to go-”

He grabbed her by the shoulders, his panic just as clear as hers. “Did they hurt you-”

“Enzo they have my deck, we need to hide-”

“They _what?_ ”

“Lance is coming, he-he’s gonna take care of-”

“Lance? Lance who?!”

“Enzo, just shut up and come with me, we need to make sure they can’t find you!” Worming her way out of his grip, she grabbed his arm and started pulling him away from the dorm, her powers zapping the ground and growing the grass as they ran. “I’ll explain later, but if I keep—if this goes on—I don’t wanna hurt you!”

“You didn’t say you could do more than remove splinters!”

“Yeah well you didn’t say my brother kicked your brother’s butt three years ago, so we’re even!” Melodia tried channeling her energy away from him, speeding up both the growth of the grass and her own feet. It was the best she could do with the adrenaline blocking out her logic.

 _Run. Hide. Don’t come out until Lance was here. Don’t electrocute Enzo._ That’s all she could manage to process right now.

Enzo managed not to crash into the brick posts holding the _Keep Out_ sign in front of the abandoned dorm, but Melodia wasn’t so lucky. She slammed into it, stumbled backward, and fell to the ground, sparks growing more furious now that she’d stopped moving. “Enzo! Enzo, get me in—I need to get past the fence-”

“What? Why?”

“Discharge!” She struggled to get to her feet, but her vision was getting blurry and she couldn’t figure out where to put her hands. Enzo hauled her to her feet, asking, “Is your arm glowing?”

“Yeah hey I’d really like to answer you but I can’t see and I really need to-”

“Oh! O-Okay, right!”

Suddenly she wasn’t touching the ground, Enzo picking her up. There was a jolt as they passed the barrier, and still hyped up on fear and magic, she shoved herself out of his arms. “Out! Past the sign, get out! Bad magic!”

Whether he understood she meant the dorm or not, she heard the chain holding the sign up rattle. It wasn’t just her head screaming now, her arm felt like it was being burned in fire straight from the Red Lion.

Angela had said nothing done inside the barrier would affect any of the area outside it. She really, really hoped that was true.

Angela had also said to never discharge at full strength, but she couldn’t find the tap. She didn’t have a choice.

Her blurry vision went completely white as she turned herself into a reverse lightning rod. Then it went black as she passed out for the second time that afternoon.

* * *

When she awoke this time, she was lying down, her arm in pain and her head buzzing. It took some effort to sit up, and she found a white blanket – more like a giant tarp – draped over her. Other than that, the first thing she saw was Midnight Angel, sitting on a coffee table covered in a similar fabric.

 _“_ _She’s awake.”_ Midnight Angel turned slightly, directing her voice behind her. Melodia blinked a few times, her mouth hanging open.

“Y-You can-?”

 _“Only in here.”_ The spirit turned back to her, as Enzo came into view from behind her. _“There’s so much energy that my passage to this world is opened wider. I’m currently as corporeal as the two of you.”_

“I-I don’t...” Melodia searched her mind for what was going on, where they were. “The...the dorm…?”

Enzo nodded. “You said we needed to hide, so I uh, brought you inside. And then she showed up.” He glanced at the spirit, clearly unnerved by her presence. “She said that um...you let off enough energy to clean part of the area, and she directed it here.”

“So it works? M-My discharges, they clean...” Melodia grabbed at her hair, laughing. “Oh, thank god. I-I was worried it might make things worse.”

 _“_ _I told him the bare minimum,”_ Midnight Angel said. _“How you have the ability to cleanse the dark energy around this dorm. You were only out for around five minutes.”_

Nodding, Melodia made no attempt to stand. She felt dizzy enough from just sitting up. “Okay. Okay, so we need to, um...we need to stay here. Until Lance gets here.”

 _“_ _We should be fine here until then. This room is fully purified, and the rest of the dorm shouldn’t start creeping in for a while.”_

“Lance,” Enzo said. “As in Lance Farstrike?”

Melodia rubbed her arm, trying to ease the throbbing her mark was letting off. She found she couldn’t look at him, or even in his direction. “Yeah.”

“And he’s your brother.”

“Unless someone else beat up Argo Garcia three years ago.” She winced, the discharge hangover briefly giving her double vision. For now she shut her eyes to stop it. “I’m sorry.”

She heard him sigh, long and hard. “When did you tell him?”

“My bracelet is a communicator. I activated it when I woke up in the helicopter after Ian used, um...the thing, with the cloth, to knock me out.” She tried to keep her breathing steady. “He heard them threaten to take my cards if I didn’t help them convince you to go home. He should be here...I-I don’t know. He said about an hour when I was at the bridge.”

“So you _are_ the one who was listening. Oh my god, he—If I’d known it was you-”

“Better me than someone who couldn’t fight back.” Melodia gave another laugh, this one weak without any humor. “Oh god, I don’t think I’ve ever been so grateful to be related to Lance. I’m still ticked as all heck at him but I am getting him the biggest gift basket I can afford.”

“Wait—wait, what?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it, all that matters is he’s finally doing something _right_ and it’s about freakin’ time.” Melodia opened her eyes, blinking away spots. “Enzo, we need to talk. I’m technically a member of the Force and you’re technically a member of the mob, and if I question you first then Lance doesn’t have any grounds to get all up in your face.”

“I’m not-”

“I know that, but I don’t know if Lance does.” She turned herself, slowly, trying not to offset her balance. When she looked up at him, he looked just as panicked as he had when she’d caught him punching the tree. “Enzo, do you in any capacity wish to assist your brothers in their work?”

“Why would-”

“I need yes or no, Enzo, please.” For the first time in her life, Melodia loved Lance. She loved his stupid pushiness and his huge ego and his love for defending people, because suddenly she was faced with someone in a very similar position with very different brothers, and she had a chance to help someone like her. “Do you now, or have you ever, had any wish to assist Argo or Ian Garcia in their illegal activities?”

“No. No, never, I-I never wanted-” Enzo forced himself to slow down and breathe. Melodia started one of her exercises, and he was quick to catch on and start mimicking her. They ran through it a few rounds before she asked another question.

“Do you feel safe in the care of your brothers?”

“No.”

“Do you feel threatened by them?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have any other living relatives that could take guardianship of you?”

“N...I don’t know. M-My sister...they say she’s dead, but I remember her walking out.” Enzo was shaking, and she led him through a few more breaths. “I-I don’t know what happened to her after that. They might’ve...”

Melodia reached for something to ask, barely knowing what she was even saying. She’d never seen an interrogation before, let alone given one herself. “Um, do you… I-Is there somewhere you would consider safe? Someone you would trust to take care of you?”

“Uh...Um, I don’t know, I never...Y-You’re the only person that...”

“...knows who you are.” Melodia sighed, closing her eyes again both to think and to reset her vision. “Okay. Um...In my opinion, I think you qualify for the Garrison’s witness protection program. Since you have no relatives to take you in, that means the officer in charge of your case will take guardianship of you.” She paused. “And I think that’s me and Lance. Um, is that okay?”

Enzo sat on the coffee table, which Midnight Angel had vacated in favor of perching on the cloth-covered chair behind it. “I, uh...what would that mean? About school?”

“Well, I’ll be staying here, so I think it means you have the choice to leave with Lance or stay with me. I’m not sure, though. I-I don’t, um...I’m kinda pulling all of this out of years of not actually listening to what Lance was saying, so...”

 _“_ _I’m no expert on any of this, but given that Lance is a member of the most respected military unit in_ _your dimension’s_ _galaxy, that would mean he and his team have final say in all cases they are involved in, correct?”_ Midnight Angel asked.

For a moment, both of them stared at her. Hesitantly, Enzo tried, “Our dimension as in referring to the difference between this place and wherever you come from?”

 _“_ _What? Oh, yeah, of course. If there’s others out there, I have no clue.”_

“But she has a point,” Melodia realized, nodding as bits and pieces came back. “Ever since they took down Sky Marshal Wade and proved he was behind the Incident, the Force became the most well-respected unit in the Galaxy Alliance-” Something occurred to her, and she grinned. “And Lance is still trying to make up for years of jackassery.”

“What?”/ _“Oh, this is definitely an excellent time to play that card.”_

“I can-!” Melodia started laughing, properly this time. “I can convince him to let you stay on the island. None of this is your fault, I was a witness to you arguing with them.”

Enzo’s mouth moved, but no sound came out. Midnight Angel reached forward and patted him on the arm. _“I’ve watched this girl all summer, Enzo. When she wants something done, she gets it done. You’re in good hands.”_

“Just like that?” It was barely a whisper. “Just like...”

Melodia leaned over, grabbing for his arm. In his daze, he gave it to her, and she shook it lightly. “Just like that. One of the few perks I’ve known about being a Farstrike.”

Enzo gave a weak chuckle of disbelief. “Few? Your family’s more famous than Seto Kaiba and Yugi Muto combined.”

“Yeah, and the expectations you get put on you because of those super famous brothers are multiplied just as much.” Feeling dizzy again, she let go of his arm and leaned back, pressing her hands on her temples. “Oh, this hurts. Full power discharge hurts.”

 _“_ _You did get told not to do that,”_ Midnight Angel pointed out.

“You get knocked out and threatened by the mafia and see how well you can control your powers the day you’re supposed to discharge your build-up. Then tell me how that goes.”

“Just rest.” Enzo stood up, grabbing the fabric still lying in her lap and pulling it around her shoulders. “He’ll come get us when it’s over, right?”

 _“_ _And the time limit those guys gave you won’t run out until he’s already here.”_

Melodia nodded, closing her eyes once more. “Yeah. Okay. Um, I don’t know if my comm will work in here-”

 _“_ _I’ll be able to tell when he has my card. This energy boost will let me pop through and tell him where we are.”_

“Okay.” Melodia breathed a few times, trying to settle her headache. “Enzo?”

“Yeah?”

“We’re gonna make sure you stay here, okay? I promise.”

His voice cracked as he answered, “Okay.”

Midnight Angel started leading her into meditation, just like Angela would, and Melodia soon fell into a restful daze that would reset her through the powers of her rose. Enzo was quiet the whole time.

* * *

By the time Melodia was brought back to proper reality, Midnight Angel had already directed Lance to their location, and it was a matter of a few minutes between her being able to stand and him appearing at the top of the stairs. There wasn’t even a scratch on him.

He bolted down the stairs two at a time, and all she could do was brace herself for impact. This was a smart move, as she was enveloped in his arms as soon as he reached her, and the next minute or so was full of him repeatedly asking if she was okay, and her repeatedly assuring him she was.

“ _Never_ do that again.”

“You think I _wanted_ to get knocked out by the mob?”

Once she was sitting down and Lance got over the fact that there was a corporeal Duel Monster spirit lounging in a chair, he started running Enzo through the same questions she’d asked earlier. When Enzo told him this, Lance looked at her, completely stunned, before a small smile crept onto his face.

“Alright,” he said, activating some kind of hologram from his Voltcom, “so this means you agree to the terms of temporary guardianship?”

Enzo nodded. “If it means I get to stay here.”

Lance looked over, and Melodia fixed him with the most Rosalie look she could manage. “He didn’t do anything wrong.”

He looked away. “So Melodia will be your handler then, as it were. You’ll join her over winter break, and if either of you leaves the island for any other reason, the other needs to come along. I’ll need to alert the Chancellor about all of this...” The hologram cycled through something, but Melodia wasn’t at the right angle to see what. When it stopped, Lance nodded and finished, “Mister Enzo Parker.”

Oh, he’d been randomizing a name, that made sense. Lance gave a few more terms for the program, told him that Sheppard would check in with them regularly as their residing substitute guardian, then asked Enzo to step outside so he and Melodia could have a few words. Enzo only left when she gave him a reassuring nod.

Midnight Angel fixed Lance with a stern glare, then dissolved into light and disappeared into his jacket. At that, Melodia jolted to her feet, remembering, “My cards!”

Lance caught her as she stumbled, her strength not fully back yet. “I’ve got them, I’ve got them. It’s okay, Dia.” He pulled both her deck and her PDA out, handing them to her. “First thing I did after they were out. Made sure they were all there, too.”

Melodia held her deck tightly, a pressure in her chest lifting. Before she could thank him, he gently pressed her back onto the couch, then knelt in front of her.

There was a gleam in his eyes she’d never seen before. It took him a moment to speak.

“Dia, I am so proud of you.”

Her voice failed her. All she could do was stare at him.

“Even after everything I did, you didn’t hesitate to call me.” Lance’s gaze didn’t falter for a moment. “Your friend was in danger, _you_ were in danger, and you put that before everything else. If I was able to teach you _anything_ through all my crap, I’m glad it was how to prioritize someone’s safety over your own feelings.” He paused to breathe, noisily and a little teary eyed, then leaned forward to hug her again. “I’m so glad you’re okay. If something had happened to you-” His voice broke, he swallowed, and he tried again. “If something had happened to you, I never would’ve forgiven myself, because it would’ve been my fault for pushing you away.”

Melodia still didn’t know how to feel about Lance, but for that moment, this one day, she knew she would never again wish he wasn’t her brother.

“I’m going to have to make regular visits now that the island’s security was breached,” he told her. “Protocol. For at least half the year. Are you gonna be okay with that?”

“I-” She finally found her voice, but she wasn’t sure where to find the words that went with it. “I think um...I think so.”

“...What do you want to tell Mom?”

Melodia inhaled sharply, the thought having never crossed her mind. But this would find its way into the news one way or another, and it was better she heard it from them first. “Um...Um, tell her I stayed calm and definitely didn’t zap myself unconscious, and there was definitely no drugged cloth used on me.”

“You did _wh_ _at?_ ”

“It’s my discharge day, and I kept having to hold it in so I didn’t kill the comm before they let me go.”

If possible, Lance hugged her tighter. “I tried to call you when I was above the island-”

“There’s a lot of dark energy in this dorm, that’s why it’s abandoned. It...You’ll have to ask the Chancellor, I was just asked to use energy here to try and fix it.” Shoot, she hadn’t meant to say that. _Salvage it._ “It’s safely contained, nothing can get out and hurt anyone, and my stunt cleared this entire room. Walking through it for a few minutes won’t cause any damage.”

Lance let her go, pulling back and leaving a hand next to her face. She wasn’t used to him looking at her with concern, and it threw her off a bit. “Who asked you to do that?”

“Um...Miss Rosenberg. The one who’s helping me control the curse. She made a barrier around the entire dorm, she’s the one who...please don’t be mad, I-I just wanted to help.”

He didn’t say anything, just looked at her for a bit. His hand brushed her hair away from her face – oh, she’d lost her ponytail, that sucked. She’d liked that hairband. “Lance-”

“It’s something only you can do, right?” he asked softly.

Her arm twitched as she thought of the green rose magically printed on it. “Y-Yeah. My curse, um, we were able to...to alter it, and now my discharged energy is a positive force. I grow plants and...and uh, clear dark energy.”

“You just discharge and it cleans up?”

“Pretty much.” Even if she’d wanted to, there was no way she could mention the rose cards. Not now. “I-I discharge once a week, and now that I know it helps this place, I can actually do something. Ange—Miss Rosenberg was going to come supervise my first attempt tonight.”

He nodded, breathing in and looking down, probably trying to process. “I’d like to talk to her.”

“Okay.”

“Dia?”

“Y-Yeah?”

“I trust you. You know that, right?” He met her eyes again, the gleam of pride still there. “If you say you’re the only one that can fix this place, I believe you. Just be careful.”

Once again, her voice failed to work. She wasn’t sure how she managed to nod.

Lance hugged her once more, then helped her to her feet. When her deck and PDA were in her pockets, she joined him in leaving the dorm, and played the part of the freaked-out victim for the rest of the night.

Her being the one that called Lance was never mentioned. All he said was he’d received an anonymous tip that students were being threatened, and had come down to investigate because he’d been flying in the area.

She called her mother, leaving a voicemail explaining what had happened, and leaving out the details she and Lance had agreed upon. When she went to dinner, those that had seen her running through the campus with her sparks trailing after her kept coming to her seat to tell her how glad they were she was okay. Abigail barged in to tackle her, crying a little, thankful her premonition had been able to warn her. Angela joined them at their section of the table and kept grabbing her hand to squeeze it, looking guilty.

No one said a word to Enzo, because no one knew he’d been involved. He sat in silence, occasionally shooting her a grateful smile.

Angela gave her one of the herbs before she went to bed, begging her to eat it to block her dreams. Melodia took it without issue, knowing she’d probably be better off without them tonight.

Before she went to sleep, she got a voice message from Enzo. All it said was, _“_ _Thank you.”_

* * *

“Occult? Really Enzo, _that’s_ your second club?”

“Hey, shut up, I think it’s cool. Pick on Moon, she’s the one joining robotics with no experience!”

“Excuse me, I believe my zappy powers would be an incredible asset to making really cool power systems and...whatever.”

“‘Whatever’, she says.”

“Bastion I can un-knight you at any moment, don’t forget that.”

“Anything but that!”

As Melodia laughed with her friends, she felt a clap on her shoulder. “I’m heading out, Miss Moon. Take care of that energy you’ve got, and try not to hurt anyone.”

She glanced back at Lance, who wore the mask of indifference she’d grown up with. The only change was the twinkle in his eyes. “Yes, sir. Only if I get kidnapped again.”

“Nope, don’t make a habit of that, your family would _kill_ me.” Lance chuckled, nodded to the others, then made his exit. When the doors had closed behind him, she stood up, offering a hand to Enzo.

“You think I can sign up for music even if this isn’t one of its days?” she asked.

He took her hand and pulled himself up, chuckling. “I think Miss Fontaine would be okay with that. You might have to sing to get in, though.”

“I do a mean ‘Lighthouse of the North’, so I think I’ll be okay. But I’ll need Sundays off. Angela wants me to meet with Professor Banner for therapy after the whole lightning trail thing.”

“I think _everyone_ will understand.” Enzo pushed a hand through the hair she’d growth-accelerated the day before. “And after that-”

“Yeah, you definitely need a haircut.”

“And whose fault is that?”

“Uhhh, the guys who kidnapped me and set me off?” She gave the biggest, stupidest grin she could manage. She knew she should probably be a little more freaked out, but it was hard to get past the happy buzz still in her head from last night.

 _“_ _Dia, I am so proud of you.”_

 _“_ _I trust you. You know that, right?”_

_“I believe you. Just be careful.”_

As her group started up the stairs to find Miss Fontaine, Chazz Princeton passed by with his two flunkies. They looked her way, but said nothing.

She bounced up the stairs, ignoring them entirely, because _she_ had survived a kidnapping by a mafia boss and _they_ hadn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Several times while writing this I wondered if it would fit better later on, but the answer was always no. It wouldn't have been in character for Argo and Ian to wait until Enzo had been in school for a while before they came to get him.
> 
> I'm okay with this!
> 
> This was actually super fun to write for a lot of different reasons. It helped me realize that Melodia's school life would be very different from Jaden's simply because of who she is and the connections she has, even if no one else knows about them. One of my classmates is related to the mob and wants nothing to do with it, so they kidnap me? Well I'm not just gonna sit there and take it, I'm gonna call my super-police brother to kick their asses, get my stuff back, and save my friend!
> 
> Man I missed this girl.


	5. Chapter 3: Last Wish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Between the last chapter and now, I finished Melodia's color palettes!
> 
> Tumblr: https://mellythedork.tumblr.com/post/185613366486/melodias-color-palettes-also-on-da-some-with  
> dA ref sheet with links: http://fav.me/dd8pbok  
> dA Rose Knights folder: https://www.deviantart.com/lunarcentric/gallery/69416078/Rose-Knights

 

 **Architecture Research Group  
** **Members: 6**

 **Mimikyu (Dimitri):  
** **So I’ve been thinking**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **That sounds dangerous, but continue**

 **Mimikyu (Dimitri):  
** **Wow, rude**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **I try**

 **Mimikyu (Dimitri):  
** **ANYWAY  
** **You should come to the Halloween party tomorrow**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **I already said no**

 **Gremlin (Brier):  
** **Oh come on, it’ll be fun!  
** **We can be wallflowers together.**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **Tiny lil wallflowers**

 **Gremlin (Brier):  
** **Enzo**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **shut up and I might let you live**

 **Gremlin (Brier):  
** **Please don’t make me put up with these guys by myself.**

 **Mimikyu (Dimitri):  
** **He’s right, that’s a bad idea, we’ll corrupt him**

 **The Angel’s Knight (Bastion):  
** **Alright, I just started paying attention, who’s getting corrupted?**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **Brier, appparently  
** **look I don’t want to go, I really hate parties okay**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **pleeeeeaaaaasseee**

 **The Angel’s Knight (Bastion):  
** **Ah, this again.**

 **Mimikyu (Dimitri):  
** **pleeeeeeaaaaaassseeee!!!**

 **The Angel’s Knight (Bastion):  
** **You do realize that you’ve actually made her feel //less inclined to go from all your badgering this past week, don’t you?**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **guys I would really rather just do some research while the library’s empty for once**

 **Gremlin (Brier):  
** **Oh right, because everyone bugs the girl who barbecued a mafia boss two and a half weeks ago**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **oh my god  
** **guys  
** **I swear  
** **I purposely Did Not zap the guy**

 **Mimikyu (Dimitri):  
** **no pics didn’t happen**

 **The Angel’s Knight (Bastion):  
** **I’m fairly certain that if she’d injured the man, Lance would be doing more than periodic visits and she likely would not still be on the island.**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **omfg  
** **guys  
** **can we just agree  
** **that she’s bombass and should TOTALLY GO TO THE PARTY TO CELEBRATE**

 **Mimikyu (Dimitri):  
** **!!!  
** **I second that!!!!**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **uuuggghh**

 **Gremlin (Brier):  
** **Not even for an hour?**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **UUUUGGGHHH**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **half an hour**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **I’m going to bed**

 **Mimikyu (Dimitri):  
** **PLEEEEAAAAAAASSEEE**

**Moon (Melodia):  
GOODNIGHT**

* * *

_“_ _Morning! Winds show good fortunes today. We should talk after the_ _party_ _! I barely know you and it sucks.”_

“Sounds good. Maybe you can help me convince the guys I don’t want to go to the party.” Melodia paused. “I’m not looking forward to breakfast.” She sent her reply to Abigail, then tucked her PDA into her pocket and stepped out into the hall. Her door wasn’t even closed before Enzo had his arm around her. “Morning, Enzo.”

“Morning, girl I’m definitely dating for real and not just because everyone says so!”

“Oh my god, are people still hung up on that?” If she wasn’t so tired from the badgering and the schoolwork, she would’ve done more than give an exasperated groan.

“You really stink at being subtle when you check on me, so yes.”

She shoved him off, turning around to lock her door. “Well, tell them to shut up, it’s getting annoying.”

“Wow, someone’s grumpy.” Enzo fell into step beside her, pulling his arms behind his head as they walked. “Maybe if you didn’t stay up so late hiding in the library-”

“I’m very committed to finding out who’s behind the architecture, Enzo.”

“Yeah, and it’s getting to a level that it’s weird. And that’s coming from a guy who believes in ghosts and demons.” He spun around, keeping pace but now walking backwards. “Seriously, you gotta chill out, Moon.”

Melodia sighed. Even if Enzo knew who she was, there was no way she was admitting why she was so set on this research. Bastion only knew because he’d been there when she’d seen two of the locations. “It’s not the research that’s got me tired, Enzo. It’s all of you spending the past week begging me to go to this dumb party.”

His lip quirked downward in a tiny frown. “Does it really bother you that much?”

She paused, decided she had nothing to lose, then explained, “Parties are where my brothers flaunt their egos and I’m there as an accessory.”

As Enzo’s step slipped and he had to stop to regain his balance, she sped up, hoping to catch a seat away from the group. Bastion waved at her when she entered the Ra cafeteria, but once she had her food she sat in the only empty seat at a table full of students she barely knew. There were a few awkward hellos that she returned before they tuned her out in favor of their own conversation. She wasn’t exactly scary, but after a brief spark-fest half a week ago when the cafeteria had gotten too loud and she was still half asleep, her dorm mates had learned she was really not a morning person.

 _At least that’s getting better,_ she thought, stuffing some potatoes in her mouth. Using the cursed dorm as her discharge space seemed to do more than grow little pockets of grass – it was also helping her, somehow. She didn’t feel as jumpy as she used to, and it was far easier to control the tap. Angela guessed it was a psychological effect of her discharge being useful and cleansing the dark energy.

Of course, it had only been two and a half weeks since the Garcia incident, so there was no telling if it would continue. Professor Banner hoped it would. She’d met with him twice now, once just to get to know each other and lay out some groundwork, and once to ensure her brief kidnapping hadn’t left her freaked out. Surprisingly, she’d already put it behind her after the first few days. She figured it was overshadowed by the whole ‘Lance said he’s proud and trusts me’ thing.

 _Speaking of Lance,_ she thought as she heard Red Lion fly off overhead. He was visiting twice a week to patrol the island, and he was heading off to wherever after doing such yesterday. She hadn’t seen him in person at all, and she was a bit grateful for that. Blissful as she was that he’d said things she’d wanted to hear from him for years, her general feelings for him were still very conflicting. _That reminds me, I need to come up with fake names to give Professor Banner if this therapy thing is going to work at all. I really don’t want to explode into lightning in a public setting._

“Miss Moon? Excuse me, I don’t mean to disrupt your meal, but it seems I may require a favor.”

At the sound of Professor Sartyr’s voice, Melodia turned, a little startled. “Oh, uh, sure. What is it?”

Holding out a plate of food, he explained, “Miss Rosenberg has informed me her magic has a rough reaction with this time of year, and she wishes not to leave her room today. I was hoping you would take her some breakfast? You and her daughter are the only people she said she would allow to visit, for safety reasons.”

Blinking in confusion, Melodia reached up to take the plate. “Yeah, of course. No problem. As soon as I’m done.” _Angela’s magic reacts to Halloween? What?_

“Thank you very much. I’m sure she would appreciate it.” Professor Sartyr nodded, then departed.

Melodia smacked away the hand of the student next to her as he tried to steal the french toast off Angela’s plate. “Absolutely not.”

“What? She won’t even know it was ever there.”

“It’s her favorite, she’d know.” Sliding the plate to the edge of the table and giving the other students a look, she resumed eating. No one tried to filch anything again.

When she’d finished, she took Angela’s plate and headed across the cafeteria toward the upstairs rooms. She knew Angela had taken one of the student rooms, as it had been available and there was only one staff room per dorm. She hadn’t visited yet, but she figured it would be labeled like all the others.

Angela had the room farthest down the hall. Melodia shifted her grip on the plate and silverware into one hand, giving a quick set of knocks. “Angela? It’s Melodia. I brought you breakfast.”

After a few seconds, she heard the lock click, and the door was opened. To her surprise, Angela was not visible – only a dull pink, um, _thing_ was. She stepped into the room to keep it in her sights, and saw the _thing_ pulling itself back to the bed, where it was…

Attached to Angela’s head? Wait, was that her hair?

 _Wait, is her hair down?_ Melodia had quite seriously never seen that before. But why was part of it moving? And...darker than the rest?

“Close the door.” Angela’s voice had absolutely no sense of its usual warmth. Growing concerned, Melodia kicked the door shut and walked over, taking a closer look at her mentor. There wasn’t just one, but two sections of dull pink, both swaying around her like arms. Angela herself wore a long red coat that Melodia had also never seen before, over a shirt and pants that...well, there was a pattern here, that was for sure.

One of the dull hair-arms blocked Angela’s eyes as she turned in her direction. “You have questions.”

“Um...yeah, but also food?” Melodia hesitated, but walked forward. “I’ll put it on the table. Will...you be okay?”

“The clothes help center me.”

“...Cool.” She glanced over, a little worried and a little curious, but that hair was still blocking Angela’s eyes. “So, um, it’ll settle?”

“By some time tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Melodia looked at the door, then back at Angela. “Can I help?”

“Not that I know of. Please leave.”

Melodia left the room, and heard the lock click behind her. _Well. Okay. That just happened._

Apparently Angela had some power issues of her own. Good to know. Maybe she’d picked it up during that attack on the archives ten years ago?

She wondered if Abigail knew.

Well, at least the ‘safety reasons’ bit made sense now. She and Abigail both had roses, and could defend themselves if Angela’s powers went haywire. Did Professor Sartyr...no, he likely didn’t know. He would have worded it differently. He wasn’t the type of person to speak vaguely.

Making her way downstairs to grab her bag from her room, Melodia tried not to be worried. Abigail had said the winds foretold good fortune. She tended to be spot-on with that.

Melodia managed to avoid the others until lunch, which was somewhat of a record. She’d almost made it to the cafeteria before Dimitri and Enzo hooked her arms into theirs and carted her in, and in defeat she didn’t fight back. She was deposited in a seat, and Beauregard passed her a full plate. Bastion smiled at her reassuringly.

“You don’t have to go to the party,” Dimitri said.

 _I might kill someone today._ Melodia fixed him with her best impression of her mother’s ‘tired of you and your crap’ look, and by the way he shrank back, it worked.

“We’re sorry,” he added quietly. Enzo nodded his agreement. She shifted the look to him, and he turned away. _I swear, Enzo…_

“What’s with the change of heart?” She asked with a sigh. This was either genuine or a ploy, and she was too done with them to be able to tell the difference.

Bastion pointed his fork at Enzo. “He apparently had an epiphany about something you told him and finally realized they were making things worse.”

Ah. Her comment that morning. It had done some good after all. That was nice. “Yeah. Yeah they were.” She stabbed at her food, enjoying the clink from her fork hitting the plate. “Next time I _will_ zap one of you. Don’t ever do that again.”

Enzo and Dimitri gave murmured apologies, and after that, she was allowed to eat in silence. It sucked that clubs were canceled in favor of the party – being a battery for robotics would have been an acceptable afternoon as well.

Oh, nope, Angela wouldn’t be there, so that wouldn’t happen anyway. Right.

As they prepared to head back to class, Bastion tapped her shoulder. “If you’re really set on going to the library tonight, I’ll join you for a bit. I can’t say that parties are my favorite activity either.”

Melodia gave him a small smile. “Thanks, Bastion.” The group had met a few times now, but they had yet to find anything. She hadn’t found any other familiar locations, but the three that did exist still set her on edge. It was nice to know Bastion, at least, could keep a cool head.

Afternoon classes went without incident, and Melodia joined the flood of students heading to the dorms to prepare for the party. She figured she could grab some things from the snack bar while everyone was getting their costumes, then slip into the library before the campus was too crowded.

She put her books away, grabbed the journals that held the group’s research – the others had far too many things in their bookshelves, so she’d been put in charge of their notes – and tucked a couple of water bottles into her bag. After a run to the bathroom, she snagged some chips and chocolate from the snack bar, but hesitated as she reached the hallway, glancing at the stairs.

There was no indication from her rose that anything was wrong – Abigail and Angela had been very insistent that was a _thing_ – but she did want to make sure Angela was okay. She really hadn’t wanted her in there, though…

After some conflicted consideration, she doubled back to the snack bar and found a small pack of Angela’s favorite junk food. She’d drop it off, make sure she was stable, then head out to the library. Call her paranoid, but something about Angela not letting her see her eyes felt like more than just off-course magic.

She bumped into a student dressed as the Celtic Guardian on her way down the upper hall, then knocked on Angela’s door. “Hey, Angela? I brought some chocolate crème rolls. I won’t stay, just thought they might help.”

There was no response at first, and Melodia wondered if she was ignoring her or maybe sleeping. She knocked again. “I’ll leave them out here if you’d rather, okay? And I’ll be in the library if you need anything.”

Still no answer. Melodia set the snacks on the windowsill, wished Angela a good evening, then started making her way back to her room.

She glanced back once, just in time to see dull pink hair pulling the rolls into Angela’s room. _Good enough._

With her own snacks, she returned to her room, and packed her bag before she realized it was cold.

Because the window was open. With a box sitting on the sill.

 _What the actual heck._ If this was Enzo again, she was going to throw him into the ocean. He _really_ needed to learn it wasn’t okay to sneak in through her window.

Well, she had his former brothers to blame for that.

With a heavy sigh, she took the box down and re-locked her window. _If you’d like to give us backup_ said the scribbled handwriting on top. What? Shaking her head and hoping this wasn’t some horrible pun, she pulled back the flaps and reached inside.

_Okay. So this is a thing._

She pulled out a purple Mighty Morphin’ Powers Rangers costume, complete with helmet and blaster.

There were no tags. No indication they’d been bought somewhere. The fabrics were soft, not thin or cheap like most costumes she’d worn as a kid. The helmet latched just like she remembered seeing in the show. The blaster holster was sturdy and actually supported the weight of the item it was meant to held. When she tested the blaster by pointing it at the wall, it released a simple red light, like a laser pointer.

_If you’d like to give us backup._

The blaster fell from her hands as it clicked. The begging for her to come. Enzo disappearing into his room right after club meetings for the past two weeks. The huge package he’d gotten before that.

The guys were going as a set of Power Rangers, and Enzo had made the costumes.

She wasn’t sure when it started, but she realized she was laughing. Why hadn’t they _said that_ in the first place? Now she felt like a jerk. Well, she was still mad at them, but…

This made a difference.

She looked up at the clock, down at the costume, then over at her bag of research supplies.

She hated parties. There was no changing that.

But she couldn’t hate her friends for wanting to include her.

The costume was stuffed into her bag before she left for the library. She wasn’t sure if she’d wear it, but she’d keep it as an option.

If anything, she’d pop in just to point her blaster at Enzo until he confessed to the intended plan. That would be sufficient payback and humiliation.

* * *

She’d spent an hour in the library, searching for any names involved in the creation of Duel Academy, but even checking in with Lance on his end she’d come up with nothing. It didn’t make sense why Kaiba Corp. was so secretive with this list of people, and she was starting to worry they wouldn’t be able to find anything. Lance couldn’t exactly just walk up to Seto Kaiba and ask with a ‘pretty please’ without a better reason than ‘two of your dorms look like pieces of my sister’s life’.

Yeah, there was no way Kaiba would buy that.

Her snacks were gone, and she was hungry, so to get some food and shake off some of her frustration, she’d thought it over and gone to change into the costume. She found a note taped on the inside of the helmet that she hadn’t noticed before, Enzo’s handwriting explaining he’d asked Angela for her measurements so he could make it, so please don’t punch him for being weird!

He was starting to pick up on that, huh. Well, he had to un-learn his illegal ways somehow. At least it seemed to be sinking in.

She spent the next ten minutes hiding in the bathroom, making sure she really did want to do this. The last Halloween party she remembered going to was...jeez, what _was_ it? Before the Incident. She’d worn a bee costume. Her babysitter had flown her around the room while she made buzzing noises. That had been fun. Nothing like the dinner parties or the formal functions she went to now for her brothers.

Melodia stared at her reflection. She had the costume on, the blaster in its holster, the helmet in her hands. The party would probably be in full swing by now, so no one would notice her late entrance. Or, if they did...she had a helmet.

Part of her really didn’t want to do this. But another part of her wanted to revisit the excitement of ‘Melobeeia’ from nine years ago.

Maybe it was time to start listening to that second part of her. She couldn’t let her brothers’ existences keep her from enjoying herself.

That was the whole reason she was on the island in the first place.

Melodia coiled up her ponytail and latched the helmet around her head. Her bag was tossed into the library, and her PDA was slipped into a small hidden pocket near her belt. As she made her way to the main entrance, she told herself, _Twenty minutes, then I make my decision from there._

The party was being held just outside the main building, but a few students were hanging out in the lobby – mostly Obelisks that hadn’t bothered with costumes. Chazz was included in this group. She reminded herself she was wearing a face-concealing helmet and walked past them. They ignored her.

Through the lights, music, and tables of food, it was surprisingly easy to find a fellow Ranger. Four, actually – black and red, who seemed to be having a faux blaster duel as an aqua and a green cheered them on. None of them seemed Beauregard or Brier’s sizes, so she guessed other students had been roped in.

Melodia made her way around the crowd, skirting the drink tables and trying not to draw attention to herself. She could feel her breath as it bounced off the inside of the helmet – which was surprisingly see-through for a black material. It reminded her of tinted car windows. None of the other Rangers noticed her, but the red one seemed to be ‘winning’, prompting the shorter aqua ranger to possibly start having some kind of fit. Maybe he was just excited.

She noticed the green ranger subtly reaching for his blaster, probably to ‘help’ the black in the ‘fight’. After a few seconds of deciding between dignity and fun, Melodia finally thought, _To heck with it._

As the green ranger drew his blaster, she drew her own, diving past the black and red to ‘blast’ the interloper before he could intervene. Her face was burning under her helmet, but the green ranger froze for a moment, grabbed his shoulder where she’d ‘shot’ him, then gave a dramatic fall and splayed out on the ground.

“Look out!” she heard behind her. The red ranger barreled into her, taking a ‘blast’ from the black, and he doubled over. “Agh! Curse you, Rita Repulsa! My friends would never do this! Give my friends back their minds!”

Hold on a minute, was the red ranger Bastion’s friend Jaden? Also, was there actually someone dressed as Rita Repulsa? (A quick glance said no. Shame.)

She and the aqua ranger took down the black with a few quick shots, then she heard laughter from where the green ranger had collapsed. He sat up and removed his helmet, revealing a stupidly-grinning Enzo. “I thought you were on _my_ side!”

“Hey, she can be on any side she wants!” Jaden countered, removing his own helmet to reveal a similar grin. “The purple ranger doesn’t even exist in the original!”

“Neither does aqua, and you see how Syrus just attacked me,” was Dimitri’s comeback, lifting the front of his helmet away from his face. “Dia! You came after all!”

After a quick glance around to be sure no one else was watching them, Melodia hesitantly unlatched her own helmet. “I, uh, had a bit of a talk with myself on the matter. You get twenty minutes.”

All four of the other rangers made similar punches of victory. Syrus didn’t show his face, but she could recognize his voice well enough after all the robotics club meetings. “Enzo said you weren’t gonna come! I’m really glad you did!”

She turned to the mentioned culprit, fixing him with another Rosalie Look. “ _Well,_ if someone had _mentioned_ there would be Power Rangers in the _first place...”_

Enzo gave a sheepish laugh. “Would that have helped?”

“These costumes really are amazing!” Jaden gushed, spinning his helmet around in his hands like a sports ball. “You gotta tell me where you got ‘em, Enzo!”

“Uh, four fabric stores, a general store, two toy stores, and a craft store.”

“Wait, you _made these?!_ Is that why you kept leaving Occult club early?”

Jaden was in Occult club? That was unexpected. Though, so was Enzo being able to make five full Ranger costumes in two weeks. “So Enzo, tell me, which one of us was staying up too late working on their project?” Melodia rested her helmet on her hip, raising her eyebrow at him. “And exactly how much caffeine have you been consuming to make this happen?”

He laughed again. “I didn’t get to dress up last year, so I thought putting something like this together would be fun!”

“I mean, I’m sure having fun!” Dimitri agreed. “And I think Bastion is, too.” He jabbed a thumb to one of the food tables, where a blue ranger was stuffing candy into a small bag. “Maybe a little _too_ much fun on his part.”

Melodia snorted at the sight. “I think that’s his cousin’s backpack.”

“Well, I’m gonna go request Monster Mash, so don’t go anywhere!” Jaden urged, cramming his helmet back on before running off to the DJ table. Melodia shook her head.

“I think I’ll go join Bastion and try to get some of that candy before he snatches it all,” she told the others. Enzo pointed his blaster at her, giving a dramatically threatening look, and she raised hers right back, channeling her mother once more. She was only now starting to realize how expressive her mother actually was, and it was kind of funny.

Enzo relented first, and she surrendered a smirk before putting her helmet back on and heading over to Bastion. She spotted Brier not too far off, curled up on one of the decorative stones and eating some chips. He wasn’t in costume but seemed content to watch from the sidelines. There was someone with him, but the party lights and the evening shadows made it difficult to make them out. Definitely not Beauregard, for sure. She knew he was staying in the dorm – parties were even less his scene than hers.

She managed to filch some candy from Bastion, who expressed his happiness in seeing her there, then got herself some punch and walked over to join Brier. As she got closer, the figure started to look suspiciously like Midnight Angel, but since Brier was talking to them that didn’t feel right. It was only when she reached them that the person’s identity clicked.

“Abigail, you are _so_ doing this on purpose,” she complained.

Her friend stopped mid-sentence to flash her a grin and bat her eyelashes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Brier, not understanding at all, just gave her a tiny smile. “Glad to see you made it. I know they said you didn’t have to come.”

She shrugged. “Twenty minutes, then I’m out of here before the embarrassment catches up. I didn’t want a handmade costume to go to waste.” She sat down by the rock and removed her helmet, leaning back a bit. “So, I’m surprised you came too. I figure you’d be gone by now and be hanging out with Beauregard.”

“Oh, I was thinking about leaving soon,” he admitted. “But that Jaden kid said he had something cool to show Enzo and Abigail, so I decided to stick around until then.”

“No, I’m not in the occult club,” Abigail said before she could ask.

“I know. You’re in astronomy and gardening.”

“Oh hey, you remember! I’m not a background character after all.” Abigail took a bite from one of the many cookies piled onto her plate. “Well, I like spooky stuff and I like plants, and he said it involved both those things, so I figured it might be something interesting.” She brushed some crumbs off her arm, somehow managing to be subtle for the first time since Melodia had met her as she used the motion to indicate her mark. It was only half-hidden under the golden ribbon tied around her forearm...huh, she really wasn’t trying to keep it a secret. Melodia had thought she was joking when she said she passed it off as self-painting. Maybe the excuse was more plausible than she’d first thought.

Anyway, spooky and plants, and Abigail pointing at her mark. _Maybe she’s wondering if whatever Jaden has is rose related,_ Melodia guessed. “When’s he going to bring it over?”

“Well, apparently he can’t take it out from where he found it, but he’ll take us to it after they play Monster Mash.” Brier took a sip of his punch. “I kind of think he’s just pulling our legs, but who knows? Only one way to find out, really.”

Melodia tossed a tiny chocolate into her mouth. “He just went to request it, so hopefully it’ll play soon. Though given how the school works, I doubt they’ll pay much attention to the request of a Slifer student.”

Abigail rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that part of the school really sucks. I think when it was built, Kaiba was still butthurt about that whole Battle City tournament twenty years ago. Yugi earned all three of the god cards back then, but he started with Slifer and Kaiba had Obelisk, so...”

Snickering, Brier agreed, “That’s as good a hypothesis as any.”

The three of them chatted and waited for a while, listening for Monster Mash and at one point convincing Abigail she was better than throwing herself at the cookie table a second time. Melodia had no idea how she could eat _so much_ and still not be full. Abigail did come back with Bastion’s candy bag, and given how much Melodia had seen Bastion eating from it, she decided it was probably in better hands.

Just as her PDA alarm went off, signaling 20 minutes had passed and it was time to choose whether she stayed or left, Monster Mash started blasting out of the speakers. The three of them watched Jaden barrel out to the dance area, quickly joined by a good portion of the students. He and the other Power Rangers – only Melodia and Bastion excluded – led the choreography that Melodia didn’t even know existed.

Maybe it was just mob mentality?

Regardless, Abigail abandoned them for the dance, and Brier took as many pictures as he could with the night setting in. Melodia was content to watch with him, and grabbed Bastion’s stolen backpack while she was at it. She and Brier picked through it while the song played, and they set some aside to give to Beauregard later.

Abigail and the Power Rangers herded over to them when the song was over, Bastion eyeing Abigail suspiciously until he saw Melodia had his bag. “ _You?_ ”

“You left your candy unguarded, it’s mine now.” She shared a grin with Abigail.

“Oh, come on!”

Laughing, Melodia tossed the bag back to him. “We took a protection fee out. Word to the wise, Abigail’s apparently a bottomless pit.”

In a completely comical act, Bastion took a huge step away from Abigail, clutching the bag to his chest and giving her a warning look. Melodia joined the others in laughing.

“Okay, okay, it’s time for the Rangers and their friends to follow the leader to the spooky thing!” Jaden announced. “I promise, you won’t be disappointed!”

With their helmets on and their food trash tossed out, the group followed Jaden out to the Slifer dorm. Melodia listened as everyone started pressing him for details, but he refused to give any spoilers, only saying there was a spooky plant involved. Abigail was growing more excited with practically every step, going by the smile she was trying to hide.

Jaden left them in the tiny Slifer dining room as he went to retrieve the ‘spooky thing’, and Melodia couldn’t help but look around with a bit of pity. Students had to live here? She could spot three holes in the wall with just a quick glance. Seto Kaiba really _was_ butthurt, wasn’t he?

“You don’t have to try to say something nice,” Syrus assured them, setting his helmet on one of the tables. “We know it stinks.”

“Do you think we could get like, some kind of inspector in here so they can force the school to fix it up?” Dimitri suggested.

“Lance,” Enzo declared. Melodia shot him a warning look. “What? They’d probably listen to him.”

Bastion shrugged. “It’s possible, but if it isn’t a direct danger to the students living here, I doubt he has a say in it. Just because he’s on the Voltron Force doesn’t mean he can do whatever he wants.”

Biting back a comment, Melodia only nodded her agreement. He’d only gotten away with coming to the island unannounced because he’d been told there was a threat, and he was technically still a military officer. It was his job, as were the patrols to ensure it didn’t happen again.

It was _more_ his job because she’d been the one kidnapped, but she wasn’t exactly going to tell them that.

“Hey, Abigail?” Brier made an attempt to change the subject. “I heard your mom wasn’t feeling well. I hope she’s okay.”

For a brief moment, Abigail jolted. “What-? Oh, um, yeah. Her magic doesn’t agree with the whole spiritual side of Halloween, but she’ll be good to go by tomorrow.”

Enzo nodded. “Yeah, I remember it from last year, too. She gets all angry for no reason, right?”

“Uh...” Abigail looked uncomfortable, which Melodia suddenly realized she’d never seen. “There’s, um, more to it than that, but I don’t think she’d be okay with me sharing that information. She’ll be back to normal by tomorrow. That’s what matters, don’t...please don’t ask about it.”

“Okay,” Melodia said before the boys could speak. They remained silent, even Syrus. “You’re right. It just matters that she gets better, and if she will, then there’s nothing to worry about.”

Abigail shot her a grateful look, then pressed herself against the wall and stared out the window. It was only a few seconds later that Jaden returned, holding his helmet upside-down like a bowl.

“Okay, so Professor Banner runs the occult club, right?” He waited for nods, then continued. “So, he brought all this cool stuff to decorate the club room with. _But_ there was something he couldn’t take in because he forgot how to move it.”

Enzo clapped once, nodding. “Yeah, I remember that. He mentioned it in the last meeting.”

“Yeah, and while I was helping him dust the dorm earlier, he found it in his bookshelf and remembered the trick! See, people can’t touch this thing, but other objects can. Check it out!”

Standing over a table, Jaden flipped his helmet over, and a small leather-bound journal slid out. They all gathered closer to get a better look – the only thing of note, though, was a rose imprinted in the leather.

And that Jaden’s hand went completely through it when he tried to touch it.

“That’s impossible,” Bastion murmured. Enzo was already poking at it, but just like Jaden, couldn’t make contact.

“It’s amazing!” he corrected. “Who knows what kind of curse could’ve done this? Or why?”

Jaden was grinning. “Yeah, well, Professor Banner said that only someone ‘bearing the right color’ would be able to take it. I dunno what that means, but it sounds wicked!”

As the boys marveled at the ghostly book, Melodia slowly spun around to look at Abigail. She hadn’t joined them, too busy collecting herself. “Hey, uh, Abigail?” No answer. “Abigail, this thing’s got a rose.” The girl jolted, her head turning in their direction. “Only opens for someone that ‘bears the right color’.”

Abigail crashed around the tables and shoved Bastion aside within seconds, her eyes huge. “Oh my-” She reached down for it, but hesitated. “This is—how did he-?”

Jaden and Enzo’s eyes lit up. “You know what this is?” Jaden asked excitedly.

 _So it does have something to do with the roses!_ Melodia thought. Abigail’s suspicion had been right. “Uh, Jaden, did Professor Banner say when he got this?” she asked, realizing Abigail’s voice was currently lost.

“Uh, I think it was just before the school year started...” He thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, that’s what he said. He just found it in a used bookstore. Said he felt it call to him, asked to come with him.”

“What’s it mean?” Enzo was visibly shaking with intrigue. “Abigail, spill!”

Abigail’s hand finally dropped to the journal, but phased through just like everyone else’s. Her face momentarily dropped with disappointment, then rose again as she turned to Melodia. “You try. Maybe it’s green.”

“Green?” Syrus repeated in confusion. Abigail blinked, looking at him as if she’d forgotten he was there.

“Uh...Green like...I-I mean...” She glanced back to Melodia, her eyes pleading for help. She didn’t seem scared of the object, but…

Well, these were Melodia’s friends. Not hers. She likely didn’t know if they could be trusted with the whole rose thing.

Slowly exhaling, Melodia contemplated what to do. Bastion and Enzo, certainly, she already knew they could keep secrets. Brier was serious and loyal, especially for a middle schooler. Syrus had become a pretty good friend through robotics club, and she knew he had secrets of his own, so he could likely be trusted as well. Jaden...Well, he’d found the thing. Melodia didn’t believe in keeping people out of the loop when they already had one foot in.

“I think,” she decided, “that it’s okay to tell them. But how much is up to you, since you’re the one who actually knows what’s going on.”

The boys were switching their gazes between them, curious and concerned. Giving another brief stare to the book, Abigail started to nod. “Okay. Um...jeez, I’ve never had to...Okay.” Her face went from mixed-up and flustered to a calm mask of indifference within a few deep breaths. “Alright. So, I’m not surprised that Professor Banner found this, because he already knows at least some things about us, but I’m a little miffed he didn’t show it to Angela right away.”

“Knows what?” Jaden clearly didn’t have much in the way of patience. “What’ve you got to do with this?”

Straightening, Abigail tapped her hand against her mark. “This. It’s not paint. This is something that marks me as a member of an ancient group of protectors, sort of...dedicated to making sure the world stays balanced. No apocalypse, no catastrophes, so on and so forth. Basically, most if not all big historic events you can think of, at least one of us was there, trying to make sure humanity wouldn’t screw itself over too horrifically. Angela is one, and so am I.” She glanced over, meeting Melodia’s eyes. “So is she.”

Almost as one, the boys all swiveled their attention from Abigail to Melodia. In response, she removed her costume’s glove and pulled back her sleeve, revealing her own mark. “I’m, uh, new. Don’t even know the name of this stuff, actually.”

Abigail blinked at her. “Really? Wow, that’s...weird, Angela should’ve been...right, I’ll talk to her about that. So um, for the benefit of everyone I guess, our official name is translated as the Rose Knights. I think the original was in a language no one speaks anymore, so.”

The boys spent a few moments rolling all this around in their heads. Bastion nodded. “I think I understand. A society like this would be one of the best-kept secrets on the planet, wouldn’t it? People trying to ensure the world remains safe for humanity.”

“Yeah, people outside the Knights hardly ever know they exist,” Abigail agreed. “Last time it got out was ten years ago. We lost a big chunk of our archives...and um, two members, apparently. Before my time.” She ducked her head.

“We’re trusting you with this.” Melodia met everyone’s eyes, trying to press how serious it was. “Okay? If you tell anyone, we could _actually_ be in danger.” Yeah, that thought never kept her up at night.

“Of course!” Jaden sounded incredulous. “I mean, this is a big deal, I’d never put someone in danger just for some gossip!”

“We swear,” Dimitri promised. “No one outside this room.” The others all nodded their agreement, looking more focused than Melodia had ever seen.

Abigail put a hand on Brier’s shoulder. “Your friend, Beauregard? Don’t worry if you spill it to him. I know he’s a good guy that can keep a secret.”

As Brier smiled in relief, Abigail once again turned to the book. “So. A little lore to help explain this. Uh, the marks give us this sort of extra layer of energy, it can focus powers we already have or give us new ones. Even if a Knight voluntarily gives up their rose for some reason, a bit of that energy stays with them until their death. If any Knight, active or former, dies with worries or regrets, the energy binds up their spirit into a book, like this. It’s called a Last Wish.”

“And the ‘bearing the right color’ thing, that’s got to do with the different colors of your roses, right?” Enzo guessed. Abigail nodded.

“A Last Wish can only be touched by a Knight that has the same color rose as the one who created it. Even then, if the new Knight can’t grant the wish, it won’t unlock.” She pointed at the small keyhole in the strap wrapped around the journal. “If the matching color Knight _can_ perform or grant the wish inside, it opens. Sometimes it takes years for a wish to find peace. Sometimes it never happens at all.” Her gaze dropped sadly. “There’s a whole collection in the archives.”

Waving his hand through the book again, Syrus asked, “Has a Last Wish ever been...dangerous?”

“Oh, no. Those are called Final Warnings and they form into the shape of little stone tablets. They skip the whole unlocking step and can be accessed by a Knight of any color.” Abigail let this settle for a total of two seconds before she clapped her hands. “So! Moon, if you would do us and this spirit a favor, and see if a green Knight made this?”

Melodia felt herself frown as she looked at the book. “The spirit that’s uh...trapped until the wish is granted, right?”

“Yeah, it’s kinda morbid and really sad, but finding out what color it’s for is the first step.”

“I’d say at least give it a try.” Jaden had calmed considerably, his excitement fully replaced with a determination she was used to seeing from Lance. “I can’t imagine being trapped in a book for years, just waiting...”

After momentarily chewing on her lip, Melodia nodded. “Okay. And uh, if not me, we can ask Angela tomorrow, right?” Abigail nodded. “Right. Okay. Uh, if it _is_ green, what should I expect?”

Abigail paused before she answered. “If it’s green, the rose on the book and your mark will glow. If you can perform the wish...I’ve never seen that, but it’ll unlock, I guess.”

Melodia exhaled. _Something only I can do._ If this was green…

She had to try.

Once she’d folded back the sleeve of her costume, she reached down, arguing with her fear for only a few seconds before dropping her hand.

It hit the leather. Both her rose and the book’s glowed a soft, gentle green.

The keyhole sparked, sizzled, then along with the entire strap it was attached to, swirled up and turned into green energy. After a few visible pulses, it regained a physical form and dropped to the table, now a green pen.

Moments later, the glowing stopped.

“Oh my stars,” Abigail whispered.

Bastion slowly leaned back in his chair. “What kind of wish can be granted at Duel Academy, I wonder…?”

_Something only I can do._

Everyone’s mutterings fell silent as Melodia picked up the journal. She flipped open the cover. The first page shimmered white.

Words began to appear on the page.

_Silvio Stuart, male, age 104 at death. Rose surrendered 5 years before death. Died attempting to save active Knights._

_Regret: “The poor girl, she lost them both...I could’ve done something. I should have. But I was foolish enough to listen when they told me to stop the fire. The archives should never be more important than someone’s life. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”_

Melodia felt her face grow cold. “Oh my god. He died in the attack on the archives.” She looked at Abigail, things starting to click. “He was with Angela and the others at the archives.”

Abigail’s eyes went wide. Her mouth fell open. “Wha...”

“They told him to save the archives instead of them.” Melodia sank into the chair at her side, watching the green words fade to an inky black. “The others died. Angela...was the only one that survived.”

One of the boys spoke, but she only heard a buzz. She’d suspected, but...to have confirmation was something entirely different.

Angela and Abigail had kept saying that being a Rose Knight was dangerous, but reading this, it only just now hit her. She’d brushed it off every time it had crossed her mind, thinking she’d be fine, that there was no chance something could happen to her.

The attack had taken two Rose Knights. Angela’s friends. Only ten years ago.

The rest of the world seemed a million miles away. The only things she could see were the journal in her hands, and the pen on the table. On instinct, she picked it up.

It wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t a reason for it.

Melodia put the pen to the page. _This is Melodia. It’s been 10 years since the attack. What do you want me to do?_

When she finished writing, the pen taken from the paper, her words gleamed. The journal – Silvio – began writing back.

_Melodia, do you know Angela Rosenberg?_

_I do. She’s my mentor. Does your last wish involve her?_

_It’s my fault her friends were lost. I know that pain. In my life, my rose granted me a unique healing power, one to do with music. I wish_   _to give it to you so that you may use it to help Angela._

_How do I get it?_

_Concentrate your energy onto the journal. I will bring you inside, long enough to make the power transfer. You will return safely, I promise._

For the first time in her life, Melodia felt no hesitation. “He’s going to transfer a power to me to help Angela,” she announced to the group. Her head was still buzzing, so she didn’t hear anyone’s response.

She turned the tap on and zapped the journal.

Everything went green.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE IT'S A TWO-PARTER


	6. Chapter 4: The Thorn Curse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Abigail's color palettes are here! (I didn't forget about them being done til more than an hour after posting this nope--)
> 
> Tumblr: https://mellythedork.tumblr.com/post/185643536561/abigails-color-palettes-also-on-da  
> dA ref sheet with links: http://fav.me/dd8pvqo  
> dA Rose Knights folder: https://www.deviantart.com/lunarcentric/gallery/69416078/Rose-Knights

 

Melodia found herself standing outside what she was fairly certain was called a chalet.

The world around her was a green field, going far beyond the horizon on all sides. In contrast to where she’d just been, the sky was bright, with the sun only a few hours before setting. Other chalets dotted the area, each surrounded with a short stone fence from what she could tell. Trees were scattered around, providing shade, though the sun felt rather pleasant. Something told her not to try to walk out beyond where she already was, so she turned back to the chalet beside her.

It was wooden, with a main floor and an attic, it looked like. Bushes of green roses stood guard along the front, bursting with life she’d never seen from any plant. There was a small pond off to the side, with a pair of outdoor lounging chairs set beside it. A grill was nearby as well. Everything about it gave the sense that it was a simple little summer home, one of many in the endless field.

She looked down at herself, feeling the air tickling her skin. Her costume was gone, replaced by the sandals and green sundress she’d worn in her dream at the castle. Her hair fluttered down her back, revealed to be fully brown upon investigation.

The door to the chalet opened, and someone stepped out. A man with gray hair brushing his shoulders, a beard to match, but barely a single wrinkle met her gaze with peaceful brown eyes. He wore a loose white button-down tee with a green rose printed on the right, along with white capri pants. His shoes were slip-ons, white with decorative green laces.

“Melodia,” he said welcomingly.

“Silvio,” she realized. _He doesn’t look a hundred at all._

He joined her at the stone wall, extending his hand and shaking hers when she offered it. “Roses still picking the young ones, I see. Welcome, Melodia. I hope your generation of Knights has been kind to you.”

“Uh...y-yeah, thanks. Where are we, exactly?”

“This is the plane where Knights wait for their Last Wishes to be fulfilled.” He spread his arms out, indicating the other buildings in the distance. “We’re all here. Our patron is kind to us, lets us live here instead of trapped alone in our books. Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Melodia felt a strange warmth in her chest, something she couldn’t identify. “Yeah,” she said breathlessly.

“Come.” Silvio waved her toward the side of the house. “I have things to tell, and you have a life to return to.”

The two of them sat in the lounge chairs. Silvio offered her a glass of lemonade that seemed to come from nowhere. She took it to be polite, but only set it in the cup holder. While she was trying to put her thoughts together, he spoke first.

“How much has Angela taught you?”

Her gaze fell to her lap. “Almost nothing,” she admitted. “She told me about the Knights about a month and a half ago, but...I only learned we actually had a name when her daughter was explaining what a Last Wish was five minutes ago.”

Silvio gave a sigh, one that sounded like he’d expected nothing more. “She had so much potential. I believed she could become the greatest Knight of our century, but...the attack took its toll on her. Are there any other Knights?”

“The two of us and her daughter. And one picked six years ago that they never found.”

“Interesting.”

As he took a sip from his own glass, Melodia fidgeted in her seat. “Um, can I ask you something? Before we get into the wish stuff.”

“Of course you may.”

“Abigail said there can be twenty of us at a time...why are there only four? Even counting the two with Angela at the attack, that’s only six...It feels kind of off, I guess.”

There was no response right away, and she looked over at him. His brow was furrowed as he stared into the distance, a thoughtful expression covering his face.

“There was another. She was chosen four years before the attack.” His eyes grew misty. “She died protecting a group of civilians during an avalanche a year later.”

Melodia’s eyes widened. “Oh...”

“She was the only casualty. A hero.” Silvio smiled thinly. “My dear Amy. I don’t regret inviting her.” He shifted a bit, clearing his throat. “She was my granddaughter, the first Knight chosen after...well, there was an incident. Five years before the archive attack. Our numbers were full, and one of our members called us together. Her daughter was trapped in another plane. The only way to bring her back was to surrender all twenty marks to open a portal to save her.”

He sat up, turning toward her. She was speechless. “We had no regrets about that,” he assured her. “The child would not have survived if we hadn’t done something. She was only a few months old. It was our duty.”

Falling back against her chair, Melodia slowly nodded. “That...That’s why there were only three during the attack. The numbers were reset.”

“Three active, yes. Former Knights still have a few senses, and we knew when the attack began. Those of us close enough rushed to help.” Another heavy sigh. “We lost about an eighth of the archives that day. It would’ve been more if we’d never arrived.”

“An eighth? Out of thousands of years?”

“Trivial compared to the lives of our active members. And I should have known that.” When she looked over at him again, his hand was clenched tightly around his glass. “It’s my fault that girl died. That Angela and her boyfriend were cursed. I should have stayed with them, and maybe then...”

“Who were they?” she asked softly.

Silvio stared at the sky for a while before he answered. She had no doubt that the memories were painful for him, especially since his own life had been lost at the same time. “The girl’s name was Lynn. Lynn Roswell. She was in her second year of high school, a lavender rose. She met the arsonist face-to-face, attempted to take them down herself after they’d cursed the other two. I don’t know the details, I only drifted long enough after death to hear the news reports. But I felt those curses take hold...” He inhaled slowly, resting his hands in his lap. “She tried the best she could. I know that. She held no regrets when she died.”

 _She was my age._ The thought twisted something in Melodia’s gut. Someone her age had died for this. “What was the curse?”

“I can’t say. I never saw it for myself. Does Angela have any peculiar behaviors?”

“Um, I’m not sure. I barely know her, really. She goes into a lot of dazes, I sort of assumed it was her thinking back to the attack...” Melodia tried to push down her feeling of discomfort. She wasn’t sure when she’d taken a drink of her lemonade, but realized it was in her hand now. It helped. “It’s Halloween. Today, I mean. Apparently that does something. Her hair had these...uh, duller parts, and they were moving on their own? Sort of like arms. And she wouldn’t let me see her eyes...she was wearing these clothes I’d never seen, said they helped her stay centered.”

Silvio’s face fell. “Ah...the Thorn curse, then. Tell me, what color is her rose?”

“Uh, it’s like a dark red?”

“It used to be bright.” Silvio shook his head. “The curse along with the devastation of the attack is Withering her. She is losing faith in the Knights, and may be unable to decide whether she wants to stay or not because of the curse clouding her mind. She is trapped.”

“And her...boyfriend, too? She never mentioned him.”

“That’s no surprise. I only saw him the once, but he’s likely been lost by now. He had a black rose. She invited him herself, and he was not ready.”

Melodia felt herself shudder. The mark of a black rose meant one had failed the trials of the castle. According to Milly’s book, it granted no powers, only protection from death. “If he gave up the rose, he died. If he didn’t, he’s still out there...”

“Causing all sorts of trouble and pain, I’m afraid.” Silvio ran his thumb across his glass. “And Monica blames herself.”

“Monica?”

“Angela. She changed her name after the attack so she wouldn’t lose the chance at her Balton scholarship for being involved in what was reported as a terrorist incident.”

Melodia stared at her glass. It was already half empty. She still didn’t remember taking a drink. “And you made your Last Wish so that someone could help her...move on?”

“She deserves to be able to live happily. If it has been ten years, I think it’s time she was given a boost.” Silvio leaned himself back, his eyes watching the tree above them rustle in a quiet wind. “Monica has hidden herself away in her new identity...I believe it can only serve to make her curse worse.”

“...Will she be okay?” She had a feeling she knew the answer.

“Both Withering and suffering from the Thorn curse...I’m quite surprised she has lasted so long.”

“So she doesn’t have much time left.”

“Most likely.”

Her glass held only ice. “But you think your magic can help her?”

Silvio turned, meeting her eyes. His gaze was sad, but hopeful. “It helped Amy, when she doubted her position. I believe it can help Monica clear her mind. But past that, I would suggest you visit the archives. Perhaps records on how to lift the Thorn curse are still there. If the active member list still functions, you may find out what happened to the boy as well. I believe closure on that front would also help her.”

Melodia contemplated this, settling back into her chair and staring out at the sky. By this point, her fear had reached such a peak that it had completely shut down her emotions. Lynn had died. Angela had been cursed and lost her identity in an attempt to continue her life. Her boyfriend, no matter what had happened to him, was gone in some way or another.

So many thoughts were buzzing around in her head that she couldn’t make sense of them. Her mind was nothing but a blur, barely letting her process everything Silvio had told her.

People had been cursed. People had died. People were _still_ suffering, even ten years later.

She’d been thinking about this all wrong.

This wasn’t about whether or not she could do something for herself, make her own name and step out of her brothers’ shadows. That wasn’t at all why she’d been chosen. She’d been chosen because she had the potential to be like Lynn, like Amy, to help people. To save people.

She’d been chosen because she’d always wanted to be able to keep people from experiencing the pain she’d gone through, between her brothers and her own curse. People like Enzo. Like Syrus.

God, she was an _idiot._

All this time she’d thought only of what being a Rose Knight meant for herself, and here was Silvio, who hadn’t even been an active member when he’d died protecting the archives. Amy had died protecting a number of people. Lynn had died trying to protect her friends.

An entire generation of Knights had surrendered their roses to bring back a baby from another dimension.

It was never about her. It was about the people she could help. She’d been so selfish this entire time.

She didn’t remember standing up. She didn’t remember letting out the tears that were stinging her eyes.

Melodia pushed away the rolling ball of guilt stuck in her chest and turned toward Silvio. “Tell me what to do.”

Silvio’s smile was warm and gentle. “Of course.”

* * *

“-a minute before you do that!”

Melodia’s sight flickered from Silvio’s chalet to the Slifer dorm dining room. In her hands, the pages of the journal started flipping forward with a brilliant light. She felt rather than saw as everyone jolted back. Someone swore.

When the pages settled, she looked down at them. She found the last words she and Silvio had exchanged in the Last Wish plane, printed on the final page of the journal.

 _Remember. It’s not Angela that’s the problem. It’s how_ _Monica_ _’s hidden herself in it as if the attack had nothing to do with_ _her. If she wishes to continue life as Angela, that’s perfectly fine-_

_As long as she doesn’t keep treating herself like a different person. Right._

_It may be wise to wait until her energy has settled to reach out to her. Give her a day or two before you attempt anything._

_I will. Thank you, Silvio. For everything._

Gently, Melodia closed the journal. The pen, still in her hand, turned to a dust of energy before wrapping its way back into its original strap form. This time there was no lock.

“You already did it,” Jaden guessed.

“Did what?” Syrus looked bewildered. “All she did was zap it, and suddenly it started flipping through itself!”

“Actually...” Melodia was surprised her voice worked. Learning Silvio’s music magic had completely killed it in that plane. “I was in there for over an hour. I think.”

“ _In_ it?” Abigail repeated, her eyes wide. “What do you mean _in_ it? What the hell just happened?”

Melodia stood up, the feeling of her costume’s boots strange under her feet. She’d already grown used to the sandals. “The world where Silvio lives. Where all the Knights waiting for the Last Wishes live. I went there.”

The only one that seemed capable of speech now was Jaden. “So the spirits waiting for their wishes to be fulfilled have their own world? That’s loads better than being stuck in a book! What was it like? Did you see anyone else? Oh, did you get that power you said he was gonna give you?”

“It-It looked like an endless countryside. Everyone had their own little place...” She could remember it vividly, but it was somehow impossible to put into words. “I only saw Silvio. He helped explain a lot. And his magic...”

Curious, Melodia raised her arm, humming a few lines of the song he’d taught her. Bursts of green energy spun out, twirling into spirals, creating a foggy vision of a rainy night. When her voice stopped, the vision disappeared.

“Amazing,” she finished softly. “It really is amazing.”

“How did-” Abigail’s eyes darted from Melodia to the spot the vision had floated. “Wh-What was that?”

“Silvio calls it a mental projection based around music. He was able to pass it to me because it was a step in his wish.” Melodia lowered her hand, humming again for a few seconds. The green energy sparked again, swirling elegantly, but she didn’t give it enough power to coalesce like before. “He also thinks it’ll help me discharge more safely.”

Enzo let out a brief laugh of relief. “Oh, thank god for that. I really don’t want a repeat of the one I saw. That was terrifying.”

Melodia chuckled. “Agreed.”

“So...what’s the wish?” Brier voiced the question everyone else seemed to have forgotten. Melodia gave a small smile, shaking her head.

“I think it’s best I don’t tell. It’s...a collection of information that should be kept within the group.” She glanced at Abigail. “And on that subject...I think we need to talk.”

* * *

It took some convincing, but the boys gathered up their helmets and returned to the party. Jaden made Melodia promise to tell when she fulfilled the wish. Enzo made her promise to be careful. Bastion took back his candy bag.

Melodia and Abigail relocated to the dorm’s stairs, taking a bit to watch the stars and make sure the boys weren’t trying to eavesdrop. Melodia’s sleeve was pulled back down and her glove was back on; her helmet and Silvio’s Last Wish sat in her lap.

“It’s Indanth vine, isn’t it?” Melodia asked after a while. “The herb that calms my powers.”

Abigail tensed beside her, but didn’t attempt to lie. “Yes.”

“My curse is the same as Angela’s. The Thorn curse. The vine helps stave off the mental symptoms so I don’t go through what’s happening to her right now.”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t want to tell me because you didn’t want to freak me out.”

“Yes.” Abigail was staring firmly up at the sky. “It acts up when Angela tries to talk about it. And I wasn’t there when it happened, so I only have information I’ve read in the archives. Did Silvio tell you?”

“He did. I mentioned the vine and when I described it, he figured it out pretty quickly. He already knew she was cursed, he felt it happen.” Melodia absently tapped her fingers against the journal. “He’s not sure how I got it. Maybe from her old boyfriend, the one who disappeared after the attack.”

Abigail’s sigh came out sounding strangled. “He even mentioned that, huh? I guess you know about Monica too.”

“Yeah.”

“What is his wish, exactly?”

“Do you know about Amy?”

“...A little. She was Angela’s mentor, briefly. Before she died.”

“She was his granddaughter. She struggled a lot with balancing her duties and her life, so he wrote a song for her. He thinks it fits Angela’s situation pretty well, so he wants me to sing it to her with his magic.”

“It won’t break the curse.”

“I know. But he suggested we look in the archives for that. Maybe we could do it over winter break?”

“...Yeah. I’ll make sure it happens.” Abigail shifted her feet awkwardly. “And if the song doesn’t do it, I’ll talk to Angela about actually teaching you things. She just...” More shifting. “I think you remind her of Lynn. So it’s hard.”

Melodia nodded. The same thought had occurred to her while she was working with Silvio. “It’s not even been two months. No harm done.”

A surprisingly comfortable silence overtook them. The music of the party didn’t reach the Slifer dorm, so they were left with nothing but the chill of autumn and the shining of the stars.

They only broke it once, when Abigail asked, “Are you mad?”

Melodia’s answer was a simple, “Nah.”

A wind blew past, and they sat there in contentment. Melodia giggled as it mussed up Abigail’s hair, but her joy faltered as Abigail’s face grew firm with fear. Her eyes darted around, almost as if she was trying to follow the wind – reading it, Melodia realized.

Quite abruptly, Abigail stood. “Remember how I said to trust Midnight Angel if she tried to lead you into the forest?”

Hesitantly, Melodia nodded. They’d only had the conversation a few days ago. “Why, what’s wrong?”

“There’s some Indanth vine growing in the Ra garden. Grab some then ask her to lead you. I think-”

Their marks began to blaze. The sound of a guttural roar shot through Melodia’s mind.

“-Angela’s lost control,” Abigail finished, looking pale.

Melodia dropped the Last Wish into her helmet and stood, wasting no time in rushing down the stairs. “You?”

“I’m going to barrier her until you bring the herb.” With that, Abigail vanished, being pulled into the shadows cast against the dorm walls.

Melodia charged up her feet and started booking it. She skirted as far out from the party as she could without risking launching herself off the island, not wanting to disrupt the music or lights. There was barely a flicker as she ran past, and it went unnoticed by the student body. Only a few of them saw her, and they paid her no mind, likely assuming she was rushing to isolation for a discharge. She still didn’t know who’d gotten that info spreading, but it kept people from trying to intercept her, so she decided to let it be.

It was a rough stop once she reached the Ra dorm, as she skidded a yard or two while she faded the energy out of her feet. The dorm’s outer lights were on, so she was able to see the plants in the garden, and it didn’t take long to locate the vine. She pulled two full lengths out and coiled them into her helmet, then sucked in a breath. Hopefully the spirit could hear her from the bedroom.

 _“_ _Midnight Angel!”_

The response was nearly immediate. Within seconds, the angel had lit up by her side, looking concerned. Melodia showed her arm, her mark glowing so brightly it shone completely through her sleeve. “Take me to the forest. To Angela.”

Midnight Angel held out a hand, using the other to mime out what looked like an explosion. She then used the same hand to indicate herself. Melodia squinted, trying to decipher what she meant. “Uh, sparks? My energy?” Nodding. “You want me to zap you—so you can be corporeal, like a few weeks ago!” Vigorous nodding.

After setting the helmet on the ground, Melodia gathered about half the energy she had. It didn’t feel like much, but she hoped it would be enough.

She set the tap to ‘blast’ and focused it on Midnight Angel. The spirit absorbed it, reaching forward to try grabbing Melodia’s hand. The first two waves, no contact was made, but the third time her hands pulsed with light and her fingers wrapped around the white glove.

With her free hand, Melodia grabbed the helmet. Midnight Angel beat her wings, gaining altitude and bringing her duelist up with her. There were a few precarious swings before the spirit got hold of Melodia’s other wrist, and after that she took off, flying over the dorm and banking off in the direction of the Obelisk area. Before long they hit the forest.

Fear and exhilaration both rushed through Melodia’s system, coalescing into a scream of mixed emotions. It felt like they were matching the speed of a plane, passing trees so fast the forest was only a green blur in the night. There was barely time to process it before they slowed, angling downward to a spike of energy that was suddenly lighting up the darkness.

 _“_ _Brace yourself, I’m losing it!”_ Midnight Angel cried, the small energy boost already fading. Melodia felt herself slipping from the spirit’s hands. When they were only a few feet from the ground, she fell, but she managed to tuck into herself and minimize any potential bruising.

“Hey! Midnight Angel, if that’s you with Moon, go get Professor Banner!” Abigail’s voice made Melodia turn, and she found the other Knight with her arms outstretched, mark still blazing. Only a couple yards away stood Angela, trying to ram her way through the shimmering blue barrier her daughter was maintaining around her. “Moon needs to keep her energy for the song and he’s got an artifact that kind of mimics the zap, and we’re gonna need it so we can get close enough to wrap the vine around her to shut down the curse spike!”

Midnight Angel vanished into the trees, giving no argument. Melodia scrambled to her feet and pulled the coils of vine from her helmet, hurriedly making her way to Abigail’s side before she started tying the vines into one large rope. “O-Okay, uh, wrap you said? Like a bandage around a wound?”

Abigail nodded, flinching as the barrier was rammed into again. “Just like that.”

“How did you stop this before now if you need Professor Banner’s help?”

“There’s a former Knight that has natural electric powers and lives near us-” Another ram, another flinch. “It’ll be okay! This happens at least twice a year, and no one’s ever gotten hurt!”

Melodia couldn’t tell if Abigail was trying to reassure her or herself more. _No one except Angela,_ she corrected silently. “So once we’ve got her wrapped up, it’ll start some kind of energy override? And then I jump in and try to reach her with Silvio’s magic?”

“Usually we have an old boombox, but I think your option will be a lot more effective being actual magic. Angela talked about-” Ram, flinch. “-Amy and her grandpa a lot, that music is one of the best healing abilities the Knights-” Ram, flinch. “-have known in a long time-”

Ram.

_Crack._

The two girls started in horror at the glass-like break that Angela had made in the barrier. What was even worse was the vicious grin their mentor was making as she noticed it. Her eyes, bright gold, seemed blind to anything but her goal. Whatever it was.

“Get down!” Abigail shouted, trying to flood more power into the barrier. Angela was charging up as well, white lightning _exactly_ like Melodia’s energy.

Melodia dropped to the ground, covering her head. Only moments later, it sounded like an entire house of dishes shattered all around her.

There was a laughter that sent chills up her spine. “Abi, Abi, Abi. You know that can’t hold me long.”

It sounded nothing like Angela. It sounded like the cold, distant voice Melodia had heard her speak in that morning, now laced with anger and snark.

“You might wanna start that song,” Abigail muttered. “Barriers are the only defense I have.”

As Melodia shakily got back on her feet, Abigail threw barriers up between them and Angela. These were smaller, weaker than the one that had encased Angela, and didn’t survive more than a few strikes of energy. Abigail stumbled at each shattering.

Melodia couldn’t seem to remember how Amy’s song started. All she could think was  _Help._

Abigail shouted at her to sing. Angela only had five barriers to get through. Midnight Angel and Professor Banner were nowhere in sight.

The tap refused to turn to ‘music’.

 _‘_ _Incoming!’_

No sooner than the voice shot through her mind did a swarm of energy explode from her wrist, burning through her glove. Her communicator felt hot on her skin, but only for the few seconds it took for the bright green burst to separate from it and gather in front of the girls.

A person formed from the energy, a green rose shining on the dark skin of their arm. Abigail screamed. Melodia’s brain blanked for half a second.

 _“_ _Zap!”_ she screeched.

The fourth Knight gathered energy, more than she had ever been comfortable wielding. It was green and bright and just looking at it seemed to close off all her fear. Then it was all thrust forward, passing harmlessly through the remaining barriers and grabbing Angela by her dull pink hair-arms. It not only pulled her back, it also briefly surrounded her. The shock made Angela stumble, and she collapsed to her knees.

Melodia finally remembered she was holding the vines and darted forward. The barriers let her pass, their only purpose to block Angela. While the woman shook and tried to find her footing, Melodia circled her several times, dropping the vines around her like garland on a Christmas tree. The more she dropped, the less Angela resisted.

When Melodia’s hands were empty, she put a few feet of distance between the two of them. The voltage around Angela tracked its way to her, and she absorbed it out of instinct. She heard Abigail scream, “For the love of god, _sing!_ ” as her barriers fell apart, her energy spent.

Melodia’s head had never felt so calm, so clear. When she started humming, the energy she released was the green of Silvio and the fourth Knight, with only pinpricks of her cursed white. The more she hummed, the bigger the mental projection grew, and the more she could hear the instruments meant to accompany the song.

As the music built, Melodia surrounded Angela with the projection. A sunset, rain, an isolated parking lot surrounded by bushes of bright red roses. The same projection Silvio had shown her when he’d demonstrated the song.

The only tweak she made was replacing Amy with Angela, and Silvio with Abigail.

When the projection was set up, Melodia stopped seeing anything else. It was her, the song, and the images acting it out.

 _“_ _Amy says she’s all alone...”_

_“Says the world doesn’t even know”_

Projection-Angela stood alone in the parking lot, a light rain drizzling down on her. A flickering street lamp would soon be the only source of light as the sun disappeared over the distant horizon.

_“About the pain she hides inside”_

_“Says happiness is just a lie”_

Angela flickered between her normal self and the viciously grinning person she became when her curse grabbed hold. She held her head tightly, shaking with fear, tears wetting her eyes.

 _“_ _Smell the roses, throw them down”_

_“Just whisper, don’t make a sound”_

The rose bushes started dying. The bright red faded to dark, petals and leaves falling to the ground.

 _“_ _Don’t want the world to know the truth”_

_“You’ve been broken and abused...by you”_

While Angela continued to flicker, Abigail entered the scene. Within seconds of seeing the rain, she started spinning around in it, a stupid grin on her face. Though still flickering between mindsets, Angela caught sight of her, and watched in confusion.

 _“_ _And Amy says”_

_“‘I see you laughing at the rain that hits your face’”_

_“‘With your arms stretched open soaking in the love’”_

Abigail spun over to Angela, taking her hands and smiling. A few of the rose bushes had halted their deaths, flowers slowly turning blue.

_“‘In a world I find so hard you find so beautiful’”_

_“‘There’s a hope in you deep inside for me’”_

Angela’s flickering faltered, leaving her in her violent form. Her eyes, a bright and vivid gold that reflected no real life, watched Abigail walk to the dying roses, brushing her hands across the bushes. Each touch revived a flower, each step she took widened the area regaining its color. There was a mixture of dark red and blue now, and the more that came back to life, the more Angela seemed to find peace.

 _“_ _The colors of her mind”_

_“Bleed into each other”_

Catching sight of two roses – one bright red, the other dark – Angela found herself frozen in place. Her dull pink hair-arms stretched out to pick them, bringing them close so she could hold them in her own hands.

 _“_ _And as the morning melts the night”_

_“And the stars enchant another”_

The sunset reversed, light shining on the lot as it started its return to the sky. It caught Angela’s attention, and she stared at it. The blank gold of her eyes momentarily shimmered.

 _“_ _While her eyes are still held shut”_

_“She can hear you breathing softly”_

Almost as if just realizing she was there, Angela spun around to follow Abigail with her eyes. Her daughter was still walking past the roses, reviving them every touch and every step.

 _“_ _Your words echo in her mind”_

_“And your words are clear”_

_“And she knows that you are here”_

_“You are here”_

Without warning, Angela ran toward Abigail, dropping both roses in order to grab her into a hug. As contact was made, Angela’s form melted back to normal, all signs of her anger and fear gone. She was crying, yes, but she was smiling, and so was Abigail, who held her back just as tightly.

 _“_ _I see her laughing at the rain that hits her face”_

_“With her arms stretched open soaking in the love”_

_“In a world she found so hard she finds so beautiful”_

_“There’s a hope in her deep inside from you”_

Abigail plucked two roses, handing them to her mother – the two reds, their stems intertwined. Angela laughed at the sight, taking a blue rose and offering it in exchange. Each holding their own colors, they tilted their heads back, the rain splashing against their faces. They laughed together.

_“ I see her laughing at the rain that hits her face”_

_“With her arms stretched open soaking in the love”_

_“In a world she found so hard she finds so beautiful”_

_“There’s a hope in her deep inside from you”_

As the music faded, so did the projection. Melodia stumbled, having spent more energy on the magic than she’d known she would, but someone caught her before she could hit the ground. Her sight was nothing but a blur, but she could feel her arm was no longer burning with urgency for Angela’s plight.

“Angela-” Her voice was nothing but a raspy whisper, and the person she was being held by shushed her.

“She’s okay. Back to normal.” The voice was familiar, but she couldn’t place it. She knew it wasn’t Abigail. The fourth Knight? It had to be.

The fourth Knight helped her sit, and took her hands. She felt energy, calm and soothing, making its way into her system. It was only a little, moving slowly with control she only dreamed of. As her body rebooted, her vision returned, and lit up by the energy transfer she saw the face of the long-lost Knight.

“Vince?”

The pilot of the Green Lion smiled at her thinly. “Good to know I wasn’t losing my mind when you came up to Arus.”

Melodia had so many questions. They spun through her mind – How did he get down here, how was he so good with the rose magic, why hadn’t he talked to her when she’d been in the Castle. She couldn’t ask any of them, her voice completely shot. The energy he was giving her did nothing to heal that.

“Usually it’s only the one feeling of panic that comes through.” He nodded down to his arm, his sleeve loosely shoved back to show the bright green mark on his skin. “When it turned into three this time, I figured I’d better find a way over.”

“Questions,” she forced out.

“How about you ask them when you’ve got your voice back?” he chuckled. “I’ve got some of my own, too.”

She dumbly nodded. Vince cut off the energy transfer and stood, pulling her up with him. She was still a little wobbly on her feet, but she was able to walk over to Angela and Abigail with him. Angela had shed the cherry-red coat and was rocking back and forth slightly. Her ponytail was being put back up by Abigail.

“No one was hurt,” Abigail was saying, over and over. “No one was hurt. It’s okay, Mom. It’s okay. No one was hurt.” Angela nodded each time, her green eyes wide with panic.

Vince knelt by her, reaching out a hand. “May I?”

She stared at him blankly until the green rose on his arm registered. Then she nodded, and Vince held his hand beside her head, a small amount of green energy fluttering out like a tiny ocean wave. It washed over her head, and her eyes shut, the fear and pain fading from her face. She was completely calm by the time Vince cut off the energy.

“I can’t stop it,” he said. “Whatever that is, it’s too deep for me to cut out.”

Angela nodded. “I know.”

“I’ll be in touch. I need to get back before the others realize I’m not actually in the bathroom.”

Angela grabbed his wrist as he tried to stand. The other touched Melodia’s leg; she squatted and took it in her own.

“I’m proud of all of you. So proud. So grateful.” Even with Vince’s emotional healing _(so many questions!)_ there were tears in her eyes. Abigail hugged her from behind, which only made the tears build. “I’m so sorry you had to see Demonica.”

“It’s not your fault,” Melodia reminded her. “It’s the curse. We know you’d never try to hurt us in your right mind.”

Angela nodded, her eyes shut tight. “Yeah,” she breathed. “Never.”

The three of them helped Angela stand. Abigail retrieved the coat, sharing a nod with Vince. Melodia hugged him. “Don’t...tell Lance.”

He seemed confused, but he agreed. With a flash, he once again became a cloud of energy, and disappeared into her comm. It burned for a few seconds before settling. He was gone.

 _Green Lion knew,_ Melodia realized. That’s why it had been watching her back at the Castle. Vince had a green rose just like she did. Midnight Angel’s pop-ins had probably been from feeling the double energy and not knowing where it was coming from.

“Bedtime,” Angela sighed. “Food, then bedtime.”

Abigail nodded, turning to Melodia. “I’ll take it from here. Do whatever you do to get your energy back.” She seemed steady on her feet, so Melodia figured Vince had given her a boost sometime during the song.

Melodia wanted to ask if green roses could normally become energy and jump in and out of comm bracelets, but her lack of voice made that kind of impossible. She’d have to wait. For the time being, she watched Abigail lead Angela out of the forest until they were out of sight, then retrieved her costume helmet.

Out of curiosity, she pulled Silvio’s Last Wish out of it. The strap was gone, and the rose imprint seemed to be permanently stained green. She flipped it open to the last page.

Underneath the parting words she’d shared with Silvio, there was something new.

_Wish fulfilled_

* * *

Somehow, instead of returning to the library, Melodia found herself staying at the party instead. Maybe it was the feel of normality, or because Professor Banner came up to her to ask why Midnight Angel had vanished almost immediately after approaching him. She couldn’t bring herself to be surprised that he could see the spirit, and just tapped at her arm, hoping he’d understand it had been rose business.

Professor Banner left, likely to check on Angela, and Melodia returned to wallflowering with Brier, the fulfilled Last Wish and her helmet sitting beside them in the grass. Once Brier found out she’d lost her voice, he made no further attempt at conversation, but their silence was a comfortable one. The only other thing he asked was if it had to do with the Last Wish, and he was content with her nod.

She didn’t stay long, but she let the others pull her into one dance, because Jaden and Enzo begged to have a full-Ranger performance. She wasn’t sure how they’d convinced Bastion, but he joined them as well and seemed far too into it. Brier recorded the dance, the lights of the party giving enough visibility for his camera to pick it up even with the sun having fully set.

When Melodia nearly fell over while returning to Brier, the boys insisted she go to bed. Bastion promised to retrieve her bag from the library while Brier and Dimitri escorted her back to the dorm.

Once she was settled into bed, Melodia stared up into the darkness. She was tired, but her brain was still trying to process everything that had happened that day.

 _Winds show good fortunes today._ Abigail had said that in her pre-breakfast message. How was any of this ‘good fortunes’? Was it from Silvio’s Last Wish being granted? Finding out Vince was the fourth active Knight? Herself getting her crap together and realizing how selfishly she’d been treating everything? There was no way in hell it was Angela’s curse spiking up – Demonica, she’d called it. Though, the wind had told Abigail about that, too. Maybe there were different ways for her to read the wind. Did some readings talk about the whole day, while others just focused on one part?

Then there was what Silvio had said about Angela’s mark. _“It used to be bright. The curse along with the devastation of the attack is Withering her. She is losing faith in the Knights, and may be unable to decide whether she wants to stay or not because of the curse clouding her mind. She is trapped.”_

Melodia wasn’t sure if Amy’s song would help Angela clear her mind, but at the very least, it had quieted the curse. Was it a short-term or long-term solution, though?

Now that she thought about it…

She lifted her hand up, humming part of the song. Silvio’s green magic spiraled out, lighting up the dark room, and in surprise she stopped. _I still have it?_

He hadn’t known if it would remain after the fact. Apparently, it did. _Awesome…_

As much as she wanted to sleep, she did want to check something else before she did so. She kicked her way out of the covers and got up, turning on the lamp by her desk before heading to the bookshelf. She pulled down Milly’s rose book and sat at the computer, searching the table of contents for the section on dark red marks.

_Dark red roses speak of a beauty past its prime, a passion that has lost its warmth, and a love that is quickly dying off. A dark crimson rose that almost borders on black is indicative of mourning and sadness. There are also people who know that they can be together only briefly. They have pressures that can't keep them together. Yet, they have intense feelings for one another and know that though they can't be together, their feelings can never die._

_This color mark is only present on a Withering Knight. Powers they may have had with their original color are lost, usually only one remaining, if any at all. It is always possible for a Withering Knight to regain their original color if they regain their confidence and faith._

_See also: Mark Changes (page 92), Withering (page 107), Curses (page 113)_

Pushing up her pajama sleeve, Melodia gave a long look to her own mark. The stem seemed fuller than she last saw it, and there were a few more leaves. Silvio had said it would be ever-shifting, growing along with her.

He’d also given her a warning about the Thorn curse. Those affected by it had their marks turn brown and sharp, growing up past the normal end-point of the elbow. She’d never seen Angela’s arm past that point, but she had a feeling that was for just that reason – to hide the curse.

She still remembered seeing the tiny brown spot vanish from her own mark during her panic attack after Aniko’s sudden appearance. Silvio had suspected the curse was jumbled in her case, being given to her years before she was chosen. Only now that she had a mark was it trying to overtake her, during moments of pure panic and fear. If she wasn’t careful, and if they didn’t find a way to stop it, she could end up in the same position as Angela one day.

Melodia closed the book. All she had to do was make it through the next two months to winter break, and then they’d visit the archives. There they could look for a way to break both their curses, and maybe find out what had happened to Angela’s old boyfriend.

After returning the book to the shelf and turning off the lamp, Melodia buried herself in her blanket and tried to get some sleep. For now, they just had to wait.

She was getting pretty good at waiting.

* * *

 

 

I asked my mfb mafia au friends to help decide what Melodia's costume would be. They were distraught when I shot down "Melobeeia", but I calmed them by making that a childhood costume instead. I then gave them permission to draw it regardless, and this is what resulted. Thanks Jazz!

 

Today really really sucked and I asked my mfb mafia au friends to draw any of my OCs to pull me from the numbness, and Jazz delivered with an adorable Melodia. tysm!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song credit: "Amy Says" by Flyleaf ~~it did not take me 3 days to remember I forgot this no not at all~~
> 
> For those curious, I got the description for dark red roses from here: http://roseforlove.com/the-meanings-of-dark-red-roses-ezp-34  
>  ~~AAHHH I didn't forget this for an entire month or so definitely not~~
> 
> I've got 5 and 6 done apart from chapter art, so hopefully those go smoothly so I can keep up this weekly posting! No promises though, I've got a ref sheet I'm running out of time to make too.
> 
> Also, Angela's color palettes are posted too!  
> dA ref sheet link (holds links to her palettes; updated w Demonica): http://fav.me/dd8qrui  
> Tumblr post link: https://mellythedork.tumblr.com/post/185781908886/angelas-color-palettes-plus-updated-ref-sheet
> 
> Also also, if you're on Tumblr, I post every time I update a chapter here. If you'd rather not have my dorkness all over your dashboard (mellythedork), I reblog all project-related posts to dorkcentric!  
> https://mellythedork.tumblr.com/  
> https://dorkcentric.tumblr.com/


	7. Chapter 5: Moonlit Garden

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey I'm posting this chapter early bc it's my birthday and why not

 

 

“I thought I might find you here.”

At the sound of Professor Banner’s voice, Melodia balled up even more than she already was. An impressive feat, as she was pressed firmly against one of the stone pillars that once held the gate to the now cursed dorm.

“Would you mind if I sat with you?”

She gave no response. Through her silence, she heard him decide to do so anyway. “Well, well... A few days ago you met Demonica. Yesterday when we spoke you seemed confident in your position as a Knight. What could a practical exam do to shatter both those accomplishments so completely?”

Mention of the exam made her flinch. A shower of sparks flew out of her. She heard Professor Banner hiss in pain, but he seemed to recover quickly, as he spoke again. “Sometimes it is easier to share personal pain with a stranger rather than a friend.”

Melodia shook her head. Her voice had mostly returned after the events of singing down Demonica, but right now, she couldn’t manage to use it. She didn’t want to. She just wanted to hide, maybe forever.

Professor Banner said nothing for a while. They sat in silence. Her mark was glowing, and her arm hurt from the dark energy less than a foot behind her, but it was nothing compared to the panic that had hit her during the duel.

“I heard you discharged in the middle of the hallway,” he said quietly. She flinched again, tears in her eyes. She didn’t want to know how many people she’d hurt. “Miss Rosenberg said you fled after the duel had barely started. You managed to send the entire main building into a blackout.”

Of course she had. Of course she’d even fried Angela’s work, which was meant to prevent blackouts from happening. She screwed everything up, so why not that too?

When she continued to not respond, Professor Banner sighed. “Only three students were injured. Minor cuts from the ceiling lights shattering. Some hair growth. No burns, no welts, no injuries directly caused by the discharge itself. Does that help at all?”

With her head buried in her arms and knees, she couldn’t see him. She could hear him though – his voice was soft, reassuring, careful. No one but her mom had ever spoken to her so kindly. And it felt like he meant it. His words and his tone were genuine, another rarity; at least outside of Duel Academy.

It felt safe. Like she could tell him. She could tell him and he wouldn’t brush it off or laugh like all her past therapists had done for everything she’d said.

Her mouth twitched. It took several attempts and almost a minute to say even one word, and it was barely audible. “...Yes.”

Professor Banner gave a general noise of relief, something between a hum and a sigh. “Well, then. Would you like some crackers? I don’t know how this discharging works, but I thought some snacks might help shake it off.”

She didn’t manage a word this time, but the agreeing grunt came far quicker than her first attempt. There was the sound of plastic being set beside her, two different kinds. She glanced out from under her arm and found a mini pack of crackers and a small water bottle. She heard Professor Banner crack the seal on a second bottle, soon followed by the sound of thin plastic tearing. There was no further attempt at asking her what had happened.

It took her several minutes to loosen her grip on herself. Professor Banner not pressuring her helped, but the fear running through her was still tight and vivid. She managed to lower her arms, shaking greatly, and take hold of the water bottle set beside her. The seal had already been broken. When she lifted her head to take a sip, the contents were being jostled by her unsteady hands. She succeeded in not spilling any.

She couldn’t lift her eyes from the ground, but she heard more plastic tear. When she reached down to find the crackers, she found it open as well. It was a slow process, but she ate three of them, and with her body processing something besides cursed energy, her shaking started to dissipate.

“...He-” Her own voice startled her. She took a careful breath and tried again. “My o...opponent. He looked like...”

Another cracker disappeared before she could find the rest of her words. Another careful breath. “H-He looked like my...brother.”

When she’d stepped into position for the duel, she’d felt confident. Her friends had been helping her practice dueling in front of people, and she was now comfortable doing so in front of a crowd. She hadn’t zapped anyone, helping alleviate her fears of hurting people like she’d done as a child, when the curse had first appeared.

Then she’d looked at her opponent. Black hair, messy, a little long. Brown eyes.

In an instant, her mind replaced her classmate with Aniko. The curse had spiked. She didn’t see him make the first move, though she knew he had summoned _something,_ and then her Duel Disk shorted out and she was running, and she heard lightning crack, and the hallway went dark and people were screaming and—

She had no idea how she’d made it out here. One second she was tripping in the hall. The next she was collapsed in front of the cursed dorm.

It had been a while since then. She wasn’t sure exactly how long.

Beside her, Professor Banner hummed in thought. “Is your brother opposed to your dueling?”

A cracker crumbled in her hand as she held it too tight. “I...don’t know. H-He doesn’t...He’s never really...” She’d never gotten this far. She’d never been able to voice her problems as related to her brothers, and she wasn’t really sure how to do it. Professor Banner made no attempt to speak for her or finish her sentence. He just waited.

“He doesn’t...c-care.” The bits of cracker fell into her lap. Another shower of sparks popped out of her. Professor Banner grunted, but only once. “He doesn’t care. He’s not...” All she could do was stare at the ground. Dirt and rocks didn’t judge. “My other...brother...thinks something...happened to him. He’s not...safe. Being near him...makes it...worse.”

“‘It’ being the curse?”

She nodded.

“Have you considered-”

“It’s not from him.” She didn’t mean to snap, but she did, and another shower of sparks hit him in the process. “She...Demonica. Her eyes were dead. She looked through us, not at us. He...He looks _at_ you. H-His eyes are brown.”

Another thoughtful hum. “I see. That’s a fair conclusion to make. May I ask something?” Nod. “Why do you think your mind substituted him for your classmate?”

Trying to settle her shaking, she took another drink of water before she answered. “He duels. His job.”

“Does that matter?”

“I don’t know.” She was rocking now, just a little, back and forth. It felt better than the shaking.

“Melodia, why are you here at Duel Academy?”

She shoved her face into one hand, partially so she didn’t have to look at anything, partially to hide her tears. “It promised.”

“It promised?”

“The dream. Th-The god. It said...it said I wouldn’t be alone anymore-”

With a crack her voice was gone, lost to sobs she couldn’t hold back anymore. She hadn’t told Angela or Abigail that. She hadn’t even told Midnight Angel, who was incapable of sharing it.

He let her cry for a minute before he spoke. She appreciated that. “I can understand that. Being alone is very painful. There is no shame in wanting to be free from it.” He paused for a moment, and she felt the echo of a hand hovering just over her shoulder. After a couple of seconds it lowered, the warning enough to keep her from shocking him again. “It’s even more difficult when your brother is the one causing that loneliness.”

She forced her words out, the hand over her face dropping; she stared blankly ahead of her through her tears. “No one else gets it. No one thinks I’m right.”

“I believe you.”

Her next sob came out as a shriek. She curled inward again, but this time toward him. His hand shifted so he could put his arm around her.

For the first time, Melodia understood what a dad was.

Professor Banner held her and hummed something she’d never heard. It felt old and soothing, like the lullabies her mom would sing when she was younger. “There’s plenty of time before the second half of the year,” he assured her. “You don’t have to be ready right away. This was just to see where you were, and if you’re not there yet, that’s alright.”

Leaning on him, curled into his arm and feeling safer than anywhere else but with her mother, she nodded. It was only a whisper, but she managed, “Okay.”

“Today is when I plaster the cracks in the Slifer dorm. Would you like to help?”

“Yeah.”

“Then we’ll start whenever you’re ready.”

“Okay.”

* * *

Apart from her friends, Melodia was given a very wide berth by the other students for the next four days. After the first week and the incident with Enzo’s brothers, her ‘electric powers’ were no secret, and now that she’d caused a blackout with them, no one wanted to be on her bad side. They weren’t even willing to whisper behind her back anymore.

It felt exactly like the isolation that had accompanied Voltron’s decommissioning after the Incident six and a half years ago. That had faded, but after its illegal recommissioning five years later it returned with a vengeance. If she was associated with something, people freaked out.

She was starting to realize she kind of hated people.

Professor Banner was making an active attempt to help. If he needed an assistant in class, she was his first choice. If her hand was in the air to answer a question, he picked her. If his cat Pharaoh had hidden among the desks, he asked her to fetch him. People were starting to catch on and a few of her dorm mates spoke to her at lunch. It was slow progress, but it was something.

When classes were over and it was time to head to clubs, she joined Bastion and Syrus to go to robotics. Enzo pretended to make a fuss about it – he was a terrible person and enjoyed fanning the flames of the gossip about them dating, and eventually she really was going to throw him into the ocean – but let her go, knowing that as things were now, she needed to be able to fiddle with and fritz out tech without the risk of danger. Angela being there was also a deciding factor.

She still couldn’t believe she’d signed up for two clubs that met on the same days. Miss Fontaine and Angela were giving her until winter break to decide which one to keep and which one to replace. She figured they were cutting her some slack due to the whole ‘briefly kidnapped when she was trying to decide’ thing. They weren’t wrong. She’d gotten the music club’s days mixed up with cooking.

As soon as Melodia entered the classroom that the club met in, Angela waved her over. It was a brief exchange – she’d managed to get in contact with Vince during lunch using the school’s emergency comm, and he’d be sending another one down for their use so he could learn about the Knights. After this, Melodia grabbed her project, a mess of wires and metal plates that had yet to take a real form, and sat with Bastion and Syrus to hopefully figure out how to put it together. Whatever ‘it’ was.

Once Bastion’s project decided to spontaneously overheat and combust, and Angela put out the fire, the trio agreed she should work elsewhere so any stress sparks didn’t break anything. She curled up in the back of the room with a wire guide and went back to untangling her...thing.

To her surprise, someone joined her. An Obelisk third-year named Zane.

Syrus’s brother.

He’d never interacted with them before. Syrus was ignored and so were any friends he had. It was easy to figure out why the younger boy had said Zane’s name with such resentment the first day of school. But now, without warning, he was pulling out a chair and sitting next to her. A tiny gadget and a collection of tools were set next to her disaster project, and he began working in silence.

She shot a look across the room to Syrus, who looked as baffled as she felt. At least he didn’t look hurt. There was no way she’d asked for this, and he knew that. When she glanced at Angela, she only got a confused shrug in reply.

Since Zane was ignoring her, Melodia returned to her wires. If anything, it was helping her figure out how to work with them. It was enjoyable in a curiosity-sating kind of way. The truth was, she’d picked this club to hang out with Syrus. Learning something neither of her brothers knew was just a bonus.

By the time club was over, she’d succeeded in wiring things right to turn on three of her seven lights. Furthermore, she’d kept all stress sparks from hitting Zane. She was rather proud of herself.

Zane followed her and the others out of the main building, not making conversation, but close enough to make sure they knew he was there. Syrus practically booked it back to his dorm as soon as they were outside, and she couldn’t blame him. His brother kept stride with them right up to the Ra dorm, where he leaned forward to say one thing before she went inside.

“Take care of him.”

With that, he was gone, and Melodia was left with the sinking suspicion that Zane followed a very Lance-like approach to brotherhood. _Lovely._

When Bastion looked at her expectantly, she shook her head and went to grab their research notes. Fridays, when not Halloween, were library study-and-research time.

She was so frazzled that most of her class notes didn’t make sense, but Bastion was able to summarize everything for her in a way that did. Dimitri shared his own notes, much more composed. With their help she was able to feel confident that she would at least get a B- on their math homework, and maybe a C+ on Duel Monsters history. She knew she could do better, but at the moment, she still felt strung-out from the practical. She tried to make up for it by leaving the architecture research to Beauregard and Brier and spending an extra hour on science.

Enzo wound up kicked out of the library for somehow knocking over an entire bookcase. At the others’ insistence, she continued to study while they helped the librarian clean it up.

Bastion and Dimitri continued to quiz her on the way back to the dorm, relenting only when Abigail appeared to whisk her out to the pavilion. They shared dinner there, Angela joining them with a collection of the food from inside. They’d been doing it ever since the practical. Abigail would read the wind, even when there wasn’t any, and give meaningless fortunes like ‘a flock of very lost seabirds will show up tomorrow’ or ‘someone’s going to trip in gym class in three days’. Angela always complained that wasn’t how readings worked. Abigail always retorted that wind was different from fire. Melodia always laughed.

Tonight, the banter was a little different. Angela seemed a little tense, so Abigail did most of the pushing. Melodia hummed Amy’s song. Both seemed to help.

Before she could leave for her room, Angela caught her by the shoulder. “Stay up a while.” There was fear in her eyes – not like the guilt over the weekend, but also not like the screaming panic when she’d been extinguishing Bastion’s project. “Keep your field spell on you.”

“Do you think something’s going to happen?” With her discharges working to cleanse the dorm, Angela hadn’t mentioned the card since the first week.

A frightened glance down, followed by a strangled sigh. “My readings...aren’t as accurate as they used to be, and I’m hoping it’s the same for the one I got this morning.”

Melodia remembered Angela had lit the dorm’s fireplace before breakfast. That explained her tenseness, without a doubt. “Okay. I’ll stay up as long as I can manage.”

“Thanks.”

As Angela turned to tell Abigail the same thing – minus mention of cards – Melodia went to grab her bath supplies so she could head to the girls’ dorm to wash up. It seemed like it was going to be a long night.

* * *

It was ten o’clock when Angela started banging on her door. Rather, someone between Angela and Demonica – her eyes were hazy, but not quite shifted from green to gold. She retained her ponytail, but the two dull pink arms were attempting to break free from the metal band. An Indanth vine was wrapped around her right arm.

“Shoes. Card. Disk. Now.”

Melodia was already in her pajamas, but she’d put her school shoes back on not long ago. Her field spell was next to her growing number of roses (like Enzo had said, Angela handed them out for anything), and she grabbed it along with her Duel Disk. She didn’t bother locking her door as they left, entwining her fingers around Angela’s and humming Amy’s song as they sprinted. By the time they were outside, the spike had faded and Angela was back to normal, allowing her to speak properly.

“Five minutes ago I felt four people pass through the barriers. Abigail likely felt the same, she’s got some up too, so she’ll meet us there. If we’re quick we can catch them before the energy gets them and your card won’t be needed.”

“And if it is?”

“Then I’ll spin up a story to give to your friends tomorrow while you recover.”

Melodia spared a glance down at her arm, where her Duel Disk was secured. Moonlit Garden sat alone in the deck slot – both a way to heal and a way to knock her out for at least a day. But to keep people from getting hurt? There wasn’t even a choice to make.

They caught up to Abigail halfway down the path to the cursed dorm. Melodia almost didn’t see her because she didn’t have a flashlight like they did. _Night vision, right._ “There’s duel energy inside. We’ve gotta move fast.”

“Who the _hell_ is dueling in a forbidden dorm?” Angela demanded crossly.

“Someone who wants detention,” was all Melodia could guess. “And to get cursed.”

“Maybe they’re trying to kill their last five brain cells,” Abigail suggested. “I’ll jump ahead and try to stop it. Meet you there.”

Melodia blinked, and Abigail was gone. She shook it off and picked up the pace, trying to keep up with Angela.

Their marks lit up as they reached the dorm. They used their running start to leap over the keep-out sign, then slowed slightly to get past the half-standing doors. Once through, Angela pulled a card from her jacket, holding it out to Melodia. “Summon this. Your energy plus the Duel Disk will solidify the path to the spirit world, and it’ll be able to lead us to the duel.”

Melodia took the card, giving it a look as she activated her Disk. Level 2, normal monster – Bearer of the Holy Lantern. “Isn’t this from Abigail’s deck?”

“Technically mine, since I gave the whole thing to her. I had two and kept one, since I can’t sense duel energy like she can.” Angela shook her had. “Blue roses.”

Deciding to question Abigail on exactly how many powers she had later, Melodia set the card. The tiny spirit appeared in front of them, twirling as it lit the lantern hanging below it. After testing a few directions, it made a steady pace forward. They hurried after it.

Before long they made their way down the stairs to the same area she’d hidden with Enzo in about a month before. Abigail was there, directing rings of blue energy around Syrus and Chumley. The former had wrapped himself in a dust cover stolen from the couch, and was shaking.

Abigail barely spared them a glance. “Down the tunnel. Jaden and some hypnotist pretending to play a Shadow Game.”

For a brief moment, Angela sparked. It was the first time Melodia had seen it happen. “In _here?_ ”

“Yeah, right? I couldn’t convince him it was fake, he’s still down there freaking out.” Abigail shook her head. “Maybe you’ll have better luck. I’ll take care of these guys.”

After fixing the boys with a glare that made them both jolt back, Angela took Bearer of the Holy Lantern off the Duel Disk and ran past. Melodia followed, trying to put together what Abigail had said. “What’s a Shadow Game?”

“Oh you know, one of the few things that makes the whole ‘duel damage turn real’ thing happen! Loser usually gets their soul stolen! What a _great_ idea to pretend to run one of those in a place that can _actually do that!_ ” Angela nearly stumbled over a rock, her anger keeping her from seeing it. “If this keeps up, the dark energy will gather around the duel and any fake damage Jaden’s taken is going to turn very real and very painful!”

“So stop it before that happens?”

“You have my permission to fry a Duel Disk! Go!”

The tunnel was too narrow for them to run side-by-side, so Angela pushed her ahead. Melodia ran as fast as she could without spark-speed, managing to turn the single corner without hitting the wall.

The room she entered was horrifying for two reasons – one, the dark smoke and demonic structure. Two, the similarities the structure held to a field spell Aniko had. She couldn’t see either duelist, having left the flashlight with Angela.

Jaden’s voice echoed from somewhere in the darkness. At first it was muffled, and she couldn’t make out what he was saying, but it ended with, “-and destroy the field spell Pandemonium!”

There was a blast of light, followed by the demonic structure shattering and the smoke billowing out into nothingness. Melodia managed to cover her eyes and avoid being blinded; now she could see Jaden, and the man he was facing. There was only a little relief when she realized it wasn’t Aniko, quickly overshadowed by the fact that neither of them seemed to be in one piece. It was like parts of their bodies had vanished into nothing.

“Jaden! What the hell are you doing?” she shouted. Both duelists turned to her, Jaden looking alarmed. “Get out of here, right now!”

“What about you?” he countered cockily.

“You’re the one dueling in a forbidden area!” Melodia cast a look at his opponent, her hand inching toward her deck slot. If she didn’t have to use Moonlit Garden, she would prefer it that way. “Hey! Big guy! I can count at least three ways this is illegal!”

He gave a booming laugh in return, his right hand raising some kind of upside-down pyramid pendant. Before he could even say anything, Jaden threw something, and it embedded itself in the item, cracking it deeply. The pieces ‘missing’ from both their bodies reappeared, and through the dim lighting, she saw Jaden grin. “Like I thought. Our bodies were never disappearing at all! That’s why Sy and Chumley and I kept seeing different things. It was all an illusion the whole time! You must’ve rigged the roulette and coat, too!”

Whatever his opponent said was blocked out as a wave of dark energy rushed into the room and her mark lit up so brightly it felt like her arm was on fire. It sounded like an ocean washing over her, ice-cold and giving no hope of survival. Someone screamed, and she had the feeling it was her.

She wasn’t going to risk it. While she still had control over herself, she opened the field spell slot and shoved Moonlit Garden into it. “Jaden! _Get out of here now!_ ”

The slot closed, activating the card. Her Duel Disk lit up with an aurora of blues, greens, and blacks. Then it exploded, flooding the room with grass. Rose bushes sprung up, huge and full, a rainbow of flowers sprouting in cascades. The walls turned into a cool night sky, and the ceiling was replaced with a cloudy night lit up by a brilliant crescent moon.

She didn’t see Jaden or his opponent anymore. She saw patches of color, varying from pale reds to dull black-violets. The room was flooding with the latter, Jaden’s silhouette was white tinged with red, and the other duelist’s was indigo, the dark violet seeping into him from all sides.

There were no words telling her what to do. There were just feelings, instincts that felt no more unfamiliar than her deck – she stiffened her hands, spreading her fingers as if controlling a puppet. Her arms stretched out at her sides, low at first, then slowly raising. As she did this, the rose bushes let out sprays of green mist, coalescing into spheres of light. They were countless, surrounding the three of them on all sides. A few of them hit Jaden’s tainted energy, purifying him instantly. Others focused on the man in the mask, and though the indigo that she somehow knew was malice didn’t fade, the corruption that was trying to overtake him was cast out.

With the people saved, she still had hundreds of lights. She slowly brought her hands together, the energy bobbing in response but otherwise staying in place.

When she flung them back out, so followed the spheres. Every trace of black-violet was vaporized on contact.

Everything was used up. There was nothing left over. The room she could no longer see beyond the garden was pure, unblemished white, cured and cleansed to even the tiniest particle.

She blinked – once, twice – and the white was gone. There was nothing but her and the garden. Exhaustion hitting her, she sunk to her knees, struggling even to breathe.

There was a shimmer in front of her. A pair of weathered feet came into her view, followed by a matching hand that lifted her chin.

Rose Warrior was beaming at her. _“Nice work, Green. Get some rest.”_

When Melodia collapsed, it was into the spirit’s arms.

* * *

Melodia came to in a state of confusion. Her Duel Disk was gone. Her pajamas were replaced with the green dress and sandals from her dream at the castle and visit with Silvio. Her mark was calm on her arm.

She wasn’t in the dorm. She wasn’t in her room. She wasn’t even in the infirmary.

When she sat up, she found herself on a cot in a small, unpainted wooden pavilion. Rose Warrior stood nearby, stretching and jabbing her spear at the air. The sky was filled with stars, bright and blinking, along with a crescent moon.

Was she still in the field spell?

As she attempted to stand, Rose Warrior turned and caught sight of her. She immediately straightened, the butt of her staff slamming against the floor of the pavilion. _“No! You must rest! The use of the Garden is hazardous, and you are not fit to return!”_

Melodia stared at her uncomprehendingly. “Re...Return?”

 _“_ _You are to remain in the Garden until it replenishes the energy it took from you in order to come to your world. Leaving before this is complete may result in your death, which I will not allow.”_

“A-Angela never said anything about that!”

_“It does not matter. You will stay. I will watch over you. You will only awaken in your world when your body has enough energy to function properly.”_

“At least let me walk-”

 _“_ _There will be time for walking later. For your own sake, do not stand. I will watch over you.”_

Struggling to understand, Melodia slowly pulled her feet back onto the cot. This seemed to satisfy the spirit, as she nodded and returned to her...training exercise? Melodia watched her for a bit, hugging her legs. Rose Warrior reminded her of the Amazoness archetype, sharp and fierce and intimidating in every way.

Like thorns.

For a while, every time she tried to speak she was hushed, so she gave up. When she stretched out on the cot she fell asleep almost instantly.

* * *

She was still in the pavilion when she woke up again. This time Rose Warrior allowed her to stand, though she couldn’t leave the pavilion. At first she thought the spirit was being overbearing, but when she tried to walk, her legs nearly gave out. Rose Warrior’s spear jutted out just in time for her to grab it and keep her footing.

Melodia sat back down after that. She was allowed to keep her feet on the floor.

Once again, she watched Rose Warrior. The spirit didn’t seem to rest herself, running through so many different techniques that Melodia lost track. Every movement was precise, but loose at the same time. Controlled but not contained.

Rose Warrior let her speak this time. “Angela says you’re a sign of the Thorn curse.”

 _“_ _I am.”_ There was no hesitation. She did not falter in her strikes.

“You’re supposed to be a different spirit.”

 _“_ _Correct.”_

“Do you know what that is?”

After a sequence of jabs, Rose Warrior turned to her. _“I suppose we will find that out together, won’t we?”_ Melodia twisted her hands together, frowning. _“You don’t agree?”_

“No, it’s just...you sound so definitive. Like I’ll break the curse and you don’t doubt it for a second.”

 _“_ _That’s because I don’t. You already have the upper hand compared to most afflicted Knights. Two cards remain untainted.”_ The spirit spread her arms. _“Just look around you. Cursed, yet you hold a Garden field._ _You wield your Lunar Rose easily. Just as I am a sign of your curse, so too are those cards a sign that you are not controlled by it. You continue to fight.”_

Melodia let out a snort. “Me, fighting. That’s a laugh.”

 _“_ _Did you not step in to play your Garden without a second’s hesitation? To fight does not necessarily mean to dirty your hands. Just because I am a warrior now, does not mean I do not have the potential to lay down my weapon in the future and become something else.”_

“What does that even mean? What will you _become,_ what happens if the curse is broken? You’re not an equip spell or a trap card, you’re sentient, you’re talking to me _right now!_ If the curse is broken, will you be healed or replaced?” Melodia bit her lip, trying to refrain from curling into a ball. “Angela’s being more open, but because of that I have so many more questions, and there’s so many she can’t answer.”

Rose Warrior was silent. Whether she was thinking or wished not to answer, Melodia didn’t know, and she continued anyway. “She said that Duel Monsters was only added on when the game was created, and that was only like, 25 years ago. Why? Wasn’t the magic enough? What’s the connection? She doesn’t know, and neither do I, and every time I ask Abigail she clams up and looks like she’s going to cry, and I don’t know what _that_ means either!”

She threw her arms out in exasperation, complaints she hadn’t wanted to vent to Angela coming out in waves. “Sure, I have two pure cards, but _why?_ Angela’s fighting too, and all she has is Brambles! Just because she’s Withering? Would all of her cards be tainted if she wasn’t? Would it still be Brambles if she was Withering but not cursed? What does Duel Monsters have to do with _any_ of this?”

 _“_ _We in the spirit world have been around far longer than your modern game.”_ As Melodia stopped to catch her breath, Rose Warrior cut in. _“Our world lives side-by-side with yours, our people appearing throughout your history but being lost to time. When the Knights were formed, we were the founding members, using our abilities to travel to your world and protect it. Then the barrier between our worlds was made, and we found other ways.”_

Straightening, Melodia stared in bewilderment. As if she wasn’t there, Rose Warrior continued, now pacing and not even looking at her. _“First it was stars. Then it was runes. For a time we inhabited children’s toys and tamed pets. There was an era of possession. Of summoning through stone tablets._ _And during that_ _time_ _was when_ _humans were given the ability of their own magic, and the bridge to our world was forgotten_ _for five thousand years_ _until your game of Duel Monsters was created.”_

Now she whirled around to face Melodia again, her expression full of anger, her spear pointed in her direction not quite in threat, but definitely in accusation. _“My brothers and sisters and I were there at the beginning of the Knights, and we will be there at the end. We will always stand beside you, because you are continuing the fight that we began._ _That is our purpose. That is why we are here. That is ‘what we have to do with a_ _ny of_ _this’._ _”_

Melodia tried to process. Rose Warrior turned away and left the pavilion, leaving her alone.

She had the feeling she’d just insulted her spirit without meaning to. Hopefully she’d be able to apologize. For now, she curled up and set her head against the cot, falling asleep again. She rested like she’d been told to, even if she didn’t really want to.

* * *

When she woke up, Rose Warrior was standing just outside the pavilion, facing outward. There was no training this time.

On steadier feet than before, Melodia walked over to join her. “I’m sorry.”

 _“_ _Mistakes make us who we are. There have always been those who speak in anger. You are stressed by many things.”_ The spirit didn’t face her, but she seemed calmer. They stood together for a while, looking out into the garden. The roses were buds now, hiding away, maybe storing energy for the next time she would use the card.

It was hard to stand still. The only things to do were sit, sleep, or talk, because Rose Warrior still didn’t want her to leave the pavilion. It was a little annoying.

Practicing her balance, Melodia spent some time walking around the pavilion, leaning in different directions to make sure everything worked right. She stumbled at first, but soon she was happy with what she could do. Whether or not it would help her when she returned home she didn’t know, but it was something to do to feel productive.

She got bored after a while. Even her returned balance wasn’t enough for Rose Warrior to let her wander the garden. She seemed amused by the question now, which was confusing. Was it supposed to be a challenge? Melodia was never actively stopped when she tried to leave, just warned.

She walked to the end of the pavilion, opposite the spirit. _“You’re not ready to leave yet.”_

For a moment, her foot shifted back. She stared out at the night sky and the budded flowers. There was something off in the distance she couldn’t quite make out. She wanted to see what it was.

Melodia hopped down onto the grass. “Yes I am.”

She heard Rose Warrior laugh as she walked away.

From what she could tell, the pavilion was in the center of the garden. The bushes were arranged somewhat like a maze, but she could see over them, so she only found a few dead-ends. Before too long she was at the end. There was a stone wall barring her way, too tall for her to reach the top, too smooth for her to climb. She didn’t want to try climbing over the rose bushes, so she settled for looking instead.

A fair distance off, lit up from within and lacking any thorns, was the castle from her dream. Part of her thought she could see someone walking near it, but when she tried to look closer, they were gone. Another spirit? The ghost of a former Knight?

The god that put everything together?

Her gut twisted when she leaned too far over the bushes. Her head started spinning. When she pulled herself back, the pain went away. Even if she wanted to, it seemed like a bad idea to try leaving the garden.

She didn’t return to the pavilion yet. She wandered some more, finding a tree and deciding to climb it. Her sandals made it hard, so she kicked them off, going barefoot like she used to as a kid.

The sight at the top was awe-inspiring. It was taller than she’d thought, and she could see the entire garden. There was the walled-off exit to her left. Behind her a ways was the pavilion.

Far off outside the garden were other landscapes. A snow-covered mountain, a volcanic pit, a lake or maybe even an ocean. When she looked up she could see a field of white clouds, hovering in place. It looked like Abigail’s field spell.

With a start, she turned on her perch, looking out at the castle. They were all kept here, weren’t they? All the field spells that were created for Rose Knights were here. The garden was hers, the gathering of clouds above was Abigail’s. Maybe the mountain was Angela’s. The scorched rock and the water might have belonged to Lynn or Angela’s old boyfriend. There were others, far away at the other side of the castle. She could make out a greenhouse. A mansion. A humongous cave.

She wondered if any of them were Vince’s. How many there were. Was it the same pool of fields since the beginning, or did they appear as a Knight was chosen? Did they change?

There was so much she didn’t know about being a Rose Knight. She couldn’t even imagine the level of knowledge it would take for her to know everything. It was probably far beyond what she could learn in her lifetime.

Rustling came from below her. Moments later, Rose Warrior was sitting at her side. She didn’t say anything. They just sat.

Melodia kept her questions to herself and just enjoyed the moment.

* * *

 _“_ _I find you admirable, Green.”_

“Me?”

 _“_ _Yes. I hear the things you go through. The battles you have to fight just to be happy. You were not made to fight like I was, but you try anyway. That is admirable.”_

Melodia twisted her face in concentration as she jumped away from the spirit’s spear. She wasn’t sure how, but the Sword of Thorns had been in the pavilion when they returned, so she’d asked Rose Warrior to show her how she fought. She’d never used the card in a duel before, so this was really her first time seeing the spirit at all. Even if she would change if the curse was lifted, Melodia wanted to know who she was now.

“Lance liked to push me toward sports,” she admitted, trying to swing the sword at Rose Warrior. It was deflected easily, but she was able to block the counter-jab that followed, so she considered that a win. “I tried a lot of things to get through to him.”

 _“_ _Yes. You didn’t have to do that.”_

“I was eleven. I wanted my brother back.”

 _“_ _And you_ _have him_ _now.”_

Adjusting her grip on the sword, which was really much too big for her, Melodia frowned. “I guess. He’s...pretending nothing happened.”

 _“_ _Then face that. Fight that battle. Nothing worthwhile is easy to obtain or understand.”_ Rose Warrior came at her with another jab, and Melodia dodged it.

“I mean, I understand why I like my mom’s cooking.”

 _“_ _Oh, I like you. You’re a cheeky one.”_ Without warning, Rose Warrior thrust her spear forward, far faster than her movements before. With just a few swipes, Melodia was disarmed. _“_ _So am I.”_

Melodia laughed. “I can live with that.”

With an amused smile, Rose Warrior bent over to retrieve the fallen sword. _“I’m sure you can. Come, we should return to the pavilion. I believe it is time for you to return.”_

“Are you sure?”

 _“_ _Trust me. We duel spirits can sense these things. You should get home as soon as possible so as to ease the worry of your allies.”_

Exhaling sadly, Melodia nodded. As Rose Warrior led her to the pavilion, she commented, “Even though I got here from knocking myself out, this is probably the most relaxing time I’ve had since I got to Duel Academy.”

Rose Warrior chuckled. _“Perhaps you should find a way to change that. There is a time to help others and there is a time to help yourself. You are close to finding the balance.”_ She clapped a hand on Melodia’s shoulder. _“Just do not make a habit of opening the Garden when it is not necessary._ _It is bad for your health.”_

“Okay, okay. I promise.”

Per the spirit’s instructions, Melodia stood a few feet out from the pavilion and closed her eyes. Her left arm was held out to her side, as she would be wearing her Duel Disk when she woke up and it would be better not to hit herself with it.

 _“_ _Tell Midnight Angel I wish to meet her in combat.”_

“Okay, but I’m gonna have to convince Abigail to use the card, then.”

 _“_ _I encourage you to hurry.”_

Melodia laughed.

* * *

Her left arm felt numb when she awoke. Even before she opened her eyes, she deactivated the Duel Disk and slid it off, sighing in relief at the loss of weight. She kept the arm in her lap as she sat up with the other, breathing carefully like Rose Warrior had advised, letting her body wake up. When she was confident that she wouldn’t fall back, she straightened and opened her eyes.

She was in her dorm room. Still in her pajamas, with Rose Warrior and Sword of Thorns in play on the Duel Disk. She removed them and Moonlit Garden, keeping her motions slow for the time being.

Due to the spirit’s inability to make sound, she didn’t notice Midnight Angel in her desk chair until she looked up. The startled cry she let out alerted the spirit to her return.

Midnight Angel rushed over to hug her, a tingly feeling surrounding her where the spirit made ‘contact’. If nothing else, it brought some feeling back to her left arm. “G-Good to see you too!”

The hug lasted longer than she expected, and Midnight Angel only backed off enough to cup her hands around her face. Worry and relief danced through her eyes, joined by a gentle smile. Melodia smiled awkwardly back. “Uh, Rose Warrior wants to fight you.”

Midnight Angel gave a silent laugh and released her face. Her arms went up in a fighting stance, making Melodia laugh as well.

As Midnight Angel dropped her arms back down, Melodia looked up at the wall to find the clock. It was about lunch time. “Is it Saturday? Or did I miss it?” When she looked back, Midnight Angel was holding up two fingers. “Oh, great. You think I could still get a burger?” She got a shrug. “Fair enough. Well, better go tell everyone I’m not dead.”

The spirit nodded and flew ahead of her, disappearing through the door. Melodia pulled her blanket off and briefly thought about changing, then decided against it. It wasn’t like she was leaving the building.

Her feet had barely hit the floor when her bracelet beeped. She froze for a moment. When she managed to lift her arm, it beeped again.

Lance had told her that it would do this when someone was trying to connect. This was the first time it was happening. It could be anyone on the Force, they all knew she had it.

It beeped again. She glanced at the door. She’d missed a whole day, even if it hadn’t felt like it, and she was really hungry. She really didn’t want to talk to Lance or the others right now. Unfortunately, she had the feeling that if she didn’t answer, he’d find her the next time he came down.

It beeped again. With a long, reluctant sigh, she tapped the cross. Almost immediately there was the sound of a near cry of relief. _“Oh thank god you’re awake. Oh my god.”_

She tensed. He knew? Angela must have told him. She wanted to be mad, but it made sense. “H...Hi.”

 _“_ _Your mentor said she didn’t know when you’d wake up, I_ _must’ve_ _tried_ _at least_ _ten times_ _since_ _yesterday_ _evening_ _and I could never-”_ He paused, just breathing. _“She said you helped her stop a power surge from blacking out the school Friday night._ _Absorbed all of it. I-I thought...I was worried that...”_

Angela hadn’t told him. She’d lied. Was that the same thing she’d told the school? “I-I’m okay. I just...needed to reboot after all that. Sorry.”

 _“_ _Sorry? No, no, don’t you dare. You have nothing to be sorry for. I’m just glad you’re okay. I-”_

“Lance, I’m really hungry. I need...” It was her turn to stop, to breathe for a moment. “I need you to...to back off for a bit.”

 _“_ _I—of course, right, you need to recover.”_

“It’s not just that.” Melodia looked down at Rose Warrior’s card, remembering her words. “I...need to be a little selfish right now. It’s really hard to...There are a lot of things I need to figure out. A lot’s on my mind and trying to balance it all is really stressful. Trying to...to talk to you is really...stressful.” She swallowed, not really believing she was actually saying this. “I don’t have the mindset to put it all into words right now, but it would...I think it would be better if we didn’t...Y-You’re acting like nothing happened and I can’t do that. I need some space. I need you to leave me alone for a while.”

There was silence from Lance. She’d expected that or an outburst. “I’m not gonna ask you to stop patrolling over here. That’s your job, and I’m grateful that you’re willing to do it. You don’t need to hand it off to someone else. But I’m not...ready. I need some time to myself so I can think and figure out what I want to say.” Her left arm was waking up more, now covered in the feeling of pins-and-needles, and she tried to shake it out.

 _“_ _I...Right. Yeah. No, that...that makes sense, I...”_ Lance sounded a bit dazed. _“Right. You’re out there to find yourself. Can’t really do that with me nosing in all the time.”_

She bit her lip, not liking the conversation, but feeling a bit lighter the more she got out. “I think I’d be willing to talk when I come home for winter break. We haven’t spent Christmas together in a few years. We could try that.”

He gave a shaky breath. _“Yeah. Yeah, I can do that. You’re right, I...”_ Another breath. _“I think we both need to think about things._ _I’ll see you when you come home.”_

“See you in five weeks.”

 _“_ _Yeah.”_

Melodia tapped the cross and ended the call. For a minute or two she stared at the wall, trying to process that she’d really just done that. She’d really just told Lance to back off.

She scooped up her cards and stood, wary of her balance. She didn’t fall over. She made it to the desk, where her deck pouch was, and picked it up.

“Thanks for the advice,” she whispered to Rose Warrior’s card as she slid it in with the others. After she put the pouch down and shoved on her slippers, she grabbed her room key and left, locking the door and making her way out to the lobby.

As soon as she left the hallway, there was anarchy. A flood of yellow rushed at her, screaming and cheering. Some of it blocked her off like a wall—oh those were her friends! Oh it was _people,_ okay that helped explain it. Kind of.

“Hi?” she offered hesitantly. “I uh, just want a burger, can we save the drama for after that?”

“She wants a burger!” / “Move it!” / “Let the lady have her burger!”

Melodia was completely bewildered as the entire Ra dorm – minus her and her friends – paraded up the stairs toward the dining hall. She absently returned the hug Brier was giving her, asking, “The hell was that?”

Dimitri and Beauregard were trying not to cry, and Enzo was too busy competing with Brier for hug-space, so Bastion was the only one able to answer. “Yesterday morning Miss Rosenberg announced that you assisted her in stopping a humongous power surge that could’ve blown out the island’s entire system. We could’ve lost student data, test results, homework, light fixtures...The overload hit you heavily and she expected you would spend the entire weekend unconscious.” After a pause he tilted his head a bit. “Is that really what happened?”

She let out a baffled laugh. “No, but uh, I don’t know if I’m allowed to say what did. So let’s just go with ‘it was Rose Knight stuff’ and leave it at that.” As she ruffled Brier’s hair, a thought occurred to her. “She...didn’t tell the entire school, did she?”

Bastion shook his head. “No, not that I’m aware of. It’s possible some of the teachers are aware, whether she told them the truth or the lie.”

“...Um, your friends from Slifer...”

“Ah... Well, I don’t know the details, but Syrus and Jaden tell me they are going to be facing expulsion unless they win a tag duel that the staff is setting up. I’m not sure what Chumley’s punishment is-”

“Cut from cooking and art club,” Beauregard sniffed. “And detention until winter break, then they’ll discuss it again.”

Enzo pulled back from the hug, looking at her worriedly. “We saw Lance yesterday, loading someone up in Red Lion with handcuffs.”

“Trust me...that’s a good thing.” Melodia sighed. “He...almost caused something very dangerous to happen. I don’t know what he was doing here, but it wasn’t going to end up well.”

“So even if the power surge story’s a lie, you’re still kind of a hero, right? If you stopped him?”

Melodia’s train of thought faltered at Dimitri’s words. “I-I, uh...”

Her stomach gurgled, and she ducked her head. “Let’s go eat.”

Their arrival in the cafeteria was heralded by a full round of applause from the rest of the dorm. Everyone was shouting things like thanks and praise and there was way more than one mention of ‘hero’. She didn’t remember the walk to a table, or when her burger was set in front of her, or anything in between. It took a while for the room to quiet, the work of her friends, though she didn’t hear how they did it. All she could do was stare blankly at her plate, barely registering the fact that her friends were at the table with her.

Hero. _Hero._ They were calling her a hero. _Her._

It wasn’t sparks that alerted her friends to the overwhelming emotions coursing through her. It was her sobs, sudden and loud and uncontrollable. She had no idea who pulled her into their arms, but it helped, and she clung back in response.

No one had ever called her a hero before. And even if they were calling her one for the wrong reason, it lifted a weight she’d never even known she was carrying. She’d spent years hearing ‘hero’ referring to Lance, to Voltron, to the Galaxy Garrison. Even as a child, before their falling out, she’d never once thought it could ever apply to her.

But it did. She was.

She was a hero.

She may not have stopped a power surge, but she’d kept Jaden from getting hurt. She’d stopped a Shadow Game from happening. She’d blasted the dorm’s weird basement with energy, stripping it of any darkness, keeping the risk of such a thing happening again to a level so minuscule she couldn’t even imagine it.

She was a hero. She was a duelist. She was both the things her brothers were.

And they were _her_ titles now too, not just theirs. She was just as good as they were.

She cried for so long that by the time she got a hold of herself, her burger had to be reheated, and Abigail and Angela had shown up and were praising her and crying and telling her that everyone and everything was okay.

Her burger was the best damn burger she’d ever had in her life.

* * *

 

 

 

My friend Val drew me a Jaden for my birthday since I've been writing this story! We decided he's baffled because he's trying to figure out why Chazz went to the trouble of only bleaching the collar of his blazer.

 

 

 I did say my mafia au friends really liked Melobeeia, right? lol  
This one is from Pidgey and adjskhfsgjfdkgfd the hair looks so goooooodd

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "by the way Angela what did your vision say"  
> "ohh uhhhh if we hadn't gotten there in time that man would've been eaten alive by the dark energy and either died or been reborn as a vengeful creature of evil"  
> ".....oh"


	8. Chapter 6: Power Bond

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand we're back! Don't ever let me go camping again, it was a nightmare.

 

 

The first thing Melodia did after she changed into her uniform was head to the Slifer dorm to see Jaden and the others. Abigail assured her they were completely cleansed of the dark energy (as was the strange basement the duel had been taking place in, so much so that they’d shrunken the barriers to cut it out of the isolation field) but that didn’t stop Melodia from worrying. Especially since Abigail had also said Syrus was unconscious in a dark-looking sarcophagus behind the intruder, likely as a hostage to force Jaden to duel.

The Knights were gathering in Chancellor Sheppard’s office in an hour to discuss what she’d seen and done. Melodia planned on using the in-between time to talk to Syrus and make sure he was okay mentally, not just spiritually. She didn’t doubt Abigail’s cleansing or people skills, but some things were better discussed after the initial panic had worn off.

There was no answer when she tried their room, so she circled around the dorm in case they were nearby. She found Chumley on the cliff behind it, and walked over in confusion. “Everything okay?”

He jumped a bit at the sound of her voice, turning in surprise. She smiled, trying to look harmless. “Just wanted to check on you guys. Head feeling normal?”

“Uh...yeah.” Chumley had never spoken to her much, usually only when she was accompanied by Beauregard. “We’re fine. Sort of...”

At his nod, she joined him and looked downward, blinking in surprise. Jaden and Syrus were on the rocks at the bottom of the cliff, in the middle of a duel. “Practicing for the tag duel?” she guessed.

“So you heard.”

“Why down there? Seems kinda silly.”

“Slifer students don’t get a lot of places to duel in private.”

She nodded in understanding, then turned her attention to the duel. Jaden had Avian and Sparkman on his field, along with a facedown card and full life points. Syrus was down to 2600 and was currently activating Pot of Greed. As he looked at his two new cards, his face turned into something that looked like shock, though she couldn’t be sure with the distance. This last for a few seconds, before shifting into what looked like fear.

Noticing this as well, Jaden called out to him. “Hey Sy! What’s wrong?”

The shout jolted Syrus out of his stupor. After shaking his head and clearing it of whatever was going through it, he added the cards to his hand and activated Polymerization, using it to fuse two monsters in his hand – Steamroid and Gyroid – in order to summon Steam Gyroid. He then used it to attack and destroy Avian, knocking Jaden down to 2800 life points. He seemed quite proud of the move, but Jaden only started laughing. Melodia bit her lip, not liking the feeling she was getting.

“Now that’s how a duel’s supposed to be!” he exclaimed. “It’s getting interesting now! Alright, let’s keep it up!”

Jaden drew, and almost immediately played his own Polymerization to fuse Sparkman with Clayman in his hand to summon Elemental Hero Thunder Giant. Melodia sighed. “Well, that’s that.”

“What do you mean?” Chumley turned to her in confusion.

“Thunder Giant’s effect lets it destroy a monster whose original attack points are lower than its own,” she explained. “And if Jaden has even a low-level monster in his hand, Thunder Giant’s attack plus that would be enough to take Syrus out.”

As per her prediction, Thunder Giant’s effect destroyed Steam Gyroid, and Jaden summoned Burstinatrix. Both monsters attacked Syrus directly, and he was so pulled into the duel that his mind imagined the attacks really hitting him. Melodia flinched at the sight, her hand grabbing her right forearm for comfort. She hated when that happened, to anyone. Kaiba Corp had a real sick streak, letting that happen. _Duels shouldn’t hurt people, under any circumstances._

Jaden said he’d had fun, walking over to Syrus as the Duel Disks deactivated and his monsters faded. Melodia couldn’t hear what was being said, but she saw Jaden take the cards from Syrus’ hand. Moments later, Syrus was shouting loud enough for her to hear: “My brother said I’m not good enough for it!”

As Syrus grabbed his cards back, Melodia felt a wave of anger wash over her. She shoved it at the grass around her feet, breathing heavily as she worked through it. She might have been low on energy, but the grass still grew at least three inches. _Okay I’m about to throw down with a third year, that’s messed up._

After something else she didn’t hear, Syrus ran off down the path behind him. Melodia tried to follow it with her eyes, but the cliff was in her way, so she took off running and hoped for the best. Chumley was quick to follow, directing her to the area where the path met up with their level of ground. She used the tiny bit of spark she had to boost her speed, managing to catch up to Syrus as he reached the forest and keeping pace with him, though Chumley was left behind. Syrus was startled when he noticed her, and it caused him to trip; she caught him and they both fell, though she instinctively twisted to cushion the blow for him. “Syrus, hold on!”

“M-Melodia!” He scrambled off her in a hurry, flustered but helping her up. “I’m sorry! Y-You scared me!”

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” She didn’t bother brushing herself off, instead grabbing Syrus’ hand and giving him a worried look. “Syrus, what happened? What was that card?”

His eyes widened, though she wasn’t sure if it was surprise or fear. “You...You saw that?” He sounded seconds away from tears.

“Syrus, we talked about this. Any problems you have, you can tell me. We’re friends, right?” She reached out to take a leaf from his hair, her eyes falling to the cards he still held in his hand. “Something about one of your cards?”

His gaze was directed not only down, but mostly behind him. “I-It’s nothing, just uh...it’s just...”

She was gentle as she took the cards, unlike how Jaden had swiped them. The foremost one jumped out at her – Power Bond. If he’d used it to fuse Steam Gyroid instead of Polymerization, he would have won the duel. “Zane said you’re not good enough for this?” She kept her voice as calm as she could, feeling her anger wouldn’t help right now.

Syrus was already small, but he seemed to shrink further at her question, and gave no response. Melodia sighed, returning the cards and motioning for him to sit with her in the grass. To her relief, he did.

“I’ll listen,” she told him. “Anything and everything you have to say.”

He remained silent, not even putting his cards into his deck. She chewed her lip a bit, trying to think. _Not good enough for something, huh?_ Neither of her brothers had ever flat-out said she wasn’t good enough for something. Lance had certainly acted like it with Voltron and the Galaxy Garrison, but...that was a whole other mess.

It was something, though. She knew how hard it could be to talk about things like this – she and Enzo were perfect examples. If she offered her own situation, Syrus might feel better about sharing his own.

Her face twisted a bit as she tried to find the right words. It was one thing telling Professor Banner about Aniko, nameless or not, during a breakdown. Talking about either brother in a negative light while her mind was calm and settled was something she’d never really gotten to do. But...this would probably be the best time, as she didn’t have any energy to spark out if she flipped.

She chewed some more, then let out a sigh and drew one of her legs up to lean on it. “I have two brothers. One is...in the military, and I grew up with him...he was trying to push me to do the same, I guess. He sort of shut down if I spoke about anything else. I tried to reach out for a bit, but fighting and stuff like that just isn’t for me.”

Watching a leaf fall from a nearby tree, she paused to collect her thoughts. “The other one is...I’ve never really known him. He’s a pro duelist. He ignores me. I can count the number of times he’s spoken to me in the past year on one hand. When I was accepted into Duel Academy, he didn’t even show up for dinner. In a word, he’s just an asshole.”

Syrus twitched at her unexpected swear, his mouth momentarily jumping into a tiny smile. She chuckled. “I mean, he is. Because of him, I kinda hate dueling, really. Or I did until Angela’s niece taught me how fun it was.” Her other leg joined the first, and she rested her arms on her knees. “I don’t think it’s for me, but the whole Rose Knight thing happened and I was guided here, before middle school even ended. At this point, I can usually duel without even thinking of my brother.”

She paused again, then corrected, “Unless my opponent looks like him, anyway.”

“Your practical exam last week,” Syrus guessed. She was relieved that he spoke.

“Yeah. I saw that angry glare flash in front of me and my instincts just-” She shot a hand out, miming her dash out of the school. “ _Pshhheewww._ Outta there.”

Glancing at her, Syrus frowned. “If your brother is a duelist...and he freaks you out that much, why did you come here?”

“Like I said, the Rose Knights thing. The god that chose me promised...” She sighed again, looking up at the trees, “...something that I didn’t want to pass up.”

She turned to him. “What about you?”

It was no surprise when his gaze dropped again. At first he didn’t speak. All he did was curl up, hugging his legs. Her mind flashed back to her breakdown the week before. Did Syrus feel just as bad as she had then?

Zane had asked her to take care of him. Did he think he was helping Syrus by doing this? She didn’t know. It was the only time he’d ever spoken to her. He’d just sat with her and had minded his own business, and it was still more attention than Syrus seemed to get from him.

She didn’t know how older brothers thought. Zane was different from Aniko or Lance. Definitely different from Argo and Ian. Anything she might think or suggest about them might not be applicable here.

Professor Banner had sat with her. He hadn’t questioned her too much, just made sure she knew she hadn’t seriously hurt anyone but understood the damage she had caused. He’d waited until she was ready to say what had happened on her own terms.

She could do that for Syrus.

They sat in silence, deep enough in the forest that she wasn’t worried about the others finding them. An alarm was set for ten minutes before she had to meet with the others, and until then she had plenty of time.

She didn’t keep track of the time too much, but it had been at least a few minutes before Syrus spoke. “A few days ago you said your rose color meant you were a healer. What’s that mean?”

“The rose marks sort of function along the lines of the meanings they have. Abigail has a blue rose, right? They’re not natural on Earth, so they symbolize miracles. In her case that means the powers she gets as a Knight are scattered and she gets more than a normal Knight does.” Melodia pushed up her sleeve, taking a long look at her own mark. “Green means life, energy, things like that. The kinetic energy is part of a curse that sort of blocks out the powers I was supposed to get, but when I was chosen it stopped killing plants and started growing them. Hair, too. I can use it to run faster and I can cleanse dark energy.”

“Like what Abigail did for Chumley and I?”

“Yeah, but on a bigger scale. That old dorm is crawling with the stuff, which is why she had to take a look at you two. Since I’m a green rose, I was asked to use my big fat cursed-but-healing energy build-ups to try and get it back to normal. Then Angela and Abigail can take down the barriers around it and...well, I guess at that point it can be fixed up and used again.” She shrugged. “I haven’t asked. I just go there for my discharges and get excited about grass growing back.”

He didn’t smile at her joke. “Is that what you did the other night?”

“Yeah, just on a really big scale. I’m not sure how much I’m actually allowed to say, but I’ll ask Angela about it and if she gives the thumbs-up I’ll let you know.” She tilted her head a bit, curious. “Why do you ask?”

For some reason, he seemed disappointed. “Oh, um...n-no reason, really. I was just wondering...” His gaze hadn’t lifted, and he was now dragging a finger through the dirt. “What about that power you got from the book? The one that made those energy spirals, the...mental projection through music?”

“...By singing or otherwise producing music, I conjure a projection around someone to try to reach their pain through song. Like how in general, music of certain types will reach you when you’re in a specific mood-” A thought occurred to her, and she straightened. “You want me to use it on you.”

His face disappeared into his knees. He did speak, though it was muffled. “I-I thought...it might help. I don’t know how to say it. Every time I think about it, it hurts, and I’ve never been able to tell anyone.”

“So you thought healing magic might calm you down enough to be able to. You know, that makes sense. Right now I don’t have the energy to do it, but I will in a couple of days.”

Slowly, his face returned to her sight, peeking out from his ball in surprise. “You...You’d do it?”

“Sy, that’s what it’s for. I’ll go to music club on Tuesday and get some extra charge, and then we can meet up right here and give it a try, okay?”

For the first time since she’d found him, Syrus smiled. “Okay. I’m suspended from club activities, so...I’ll be waiting.”

“Hey, at least you won’t have to be in robotics with Zane, right?” She reached out to ruffle his hair, but stopped as her mind flashed to Lance doing the same to her. Awkwardly, she dropped her hand to his shoulder and patted it. “I’ll look for a good song. Something about...what do you think would help?”

He squirmed a little – not from her touch, but in thought, judging by his expression. “I don’t know much music...um...i-independence, maybe? I’m not...”

“I’ll figure something out. You just hang in there.”

“I’ll try.”

* * *

 **Accepted invitation to group: Shut Up I Know What I’m Doing  
** **Members: 3**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **...** **u** **h?**

 **Syroid (Syrus):  
** **???**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **Syrus?**

 **Perfection (Abigail):  
** **cool cool so  
** **you two  
** **meet me after club time at the docks  
** **winds say you are meant to be there**

 **Syroid (Syrus):  
** **????????**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **o** **ne of her powers is divination through wind**

 **Syroid (Syrus):  
** **oh**

 **Perfection (Abigail):  
** **and before you ask no we wont get in trouble  
** **youll be with me  
** **im a free ticket out of trouble**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **that’s a lie**

 **Perfection (Abigail):  
** **you love me anyway <3**

 **Syroid (Syrus):  
** **um, okay?**

* * *

With no clubs on Monday due to her scheduling blunder, Melodia waited in the main building lobby for detention to end. After Abigail’s messages during lunch, Melodia and Syrus had decided to meet up and walk together, so while at Ra she’d grabbed the rose book. There were plenty of blank pages in the back, and Angela had said they were for individual notes. She and Abigail had left some descriptions of their powers, so Melodia decided to do the same.

“Hey. Move it.”

Oh, he was _so_ lucky she was only slightly charged right now.

Slowly and reluctantly, Melodia lifted her head to look up at Chazz in all his cocky, pompous glory. He didn’t have his usual two goons with him, she noted.

“I said move,” he snapped again.

“Nope,” she replied evenly, popping the ‘p’.

His eyes narrowed. In response she leaned back on the couch, then nodded to the others. “Plenty of room. Help yourself.”

“I know what you’re doing,” he hissed. “I’m not falling for it.”

Her eyebrow raised, she waited for him to continue. At this point, her hatred for him had waned to a passive indifference – she had far better things to do than get angry about someone who had nothing to do with her.

“You may have everyone else fooled, but I know exactly what’s going on. And let me tell you, it’s not gonna work!”

“Princeton, I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.” She really didn’t. What, did he find out who she was? Sure, that might be a bit of a problem, but who would believe him? She had Angela, Sheppard, and Sartyr to back up her facade, and he was already on thin ice with his peers after losing against Jaden in a practical exam the day after hers. Or, maybe he was on about something regarding her status in Ra. She’d heard plenty of things said about her in that regard, ranging from stupid to gross.

He leaned in closer, not nearly as calm about this as she was. Actually, he seemed livid. “You are _not_ going to ruin this for me, _Farstrike._ ” Ah, option one. “No matter how much you try to play it up to impress him, _I’m_ the one that’s going to meet your brother in the pro leagues. _I’m_ the one between us fit to be a duelist!”

Closing the book, Melodia considered him. Abigail had been advising her on how to deal with this eventuality, it originally being one of her biggest fears as it could ruin how her fellow students saw her. But now that it was happening? She had bigger things to worry about. Syrus needed a song so he could feel safe telling her what happened between him and Zane. Her dorm group was still looking into the architecture, and Bastion had said at lunch that he’d had an idea for them to try Friday. Enzo was flipping between chill-and-expressive and quiet-and-scared due to nightmares of his brothers popping up, and she was also trying to find a song for that. The cursed dorm still needed healed.

Chazz, who had been one of her biggest and most annoying problems growing up, suddenly seemed so unimportant.

“Between you and me,” she said, “you’re right about one thing. Sure, you’ll be the one to meet him in the leagues. But that’s because I have better things to do than try to meet the expectations of someone who doesn’t care.”

As he knew who she was, and she hadn’t exactly denied the claim, she’d expected Chazz to retort immediately. They’d banter a bit as always, then ignore each other again until the next encounter. Instead, he fell silent, his anger faltering and briefly showing...what was that, some kind of epiphany? Whatever it was, it looked like one of fear, and it was quickly masked by a glare. Without another word he stalked out the door, not turning back.

 _Okay...that was…_ _W_ _eird._ She had no idea what had just happened. Anything she came up with seemed unlikely.

Shaking her head, she re-opened the rose book and went back to making her notes. Putting Silvio’s power into words was difficult, but she felt it was helping her understand it a bit more, too.

Good to know she could understand _something_ today. Then again, she didn’t really _want_ to understand Chazz Princeton.

Syrus, Jaden, and Chumley joined her in the lobby once they were let out from detention, the same time clubs got out. After stashing the rose book in her bag, she and Syrus headed for the docks. To her confusion, Jaden and Chumley followed – Jaden said Abigail had invited him too, and Chumley just wanted to know what was going on.

They made it out to the docks before Abigail did, though oddly, Jaden insisted they stop at the Slifer dorm first so he could grab his Duel Disk. When Syrus asked him if he knew what Abigail wanted, all he did was grin.

This did not bode well. Abigail was already mischievous, but if she’d pulled Jaden into something, it could only end badly.

With zero subtlety, Abigail emerged from the shadows of the storage units, startling both Syrus and Chumley. She immediately went to Jaden, whispered something, and they shared what Melodia could only call conspiratorial grins. After that, she whirled to face the rest of them and announced, “Today, I’m meddling, and you can hate me if it doesn’t work out the way I intend!”

“There was no wind,” Melodia realized.

“Yes, I’m a dirty liar, but I have good reasons for it and—there is that reason!” Abigail suddenly rushed past them, hurrying to greet someone that had just arrived. When Melodia turned to see who it was, visions of tossing Abigail into the sea while electrocuting her momentarily danced across her mind.

Being tugged closer to the group by an excited Abigail, looking mildly amused, was Zane.

Melodia was at Syrus’ side in an instant, her hand on his shoulder. He looked pale, and was already shaking. The events of the day before, whatever drawing Power Bond had made him think of, were still fresh in his mind and she couldn’t blame him if he wanted to run. She didn’t have a song, but she hummed for him; gentle spirals cupped his face and it seemed to calm him down, if only by a small amount.

“You’re right,” she said as Abigail and Zane stopped in front of them. “I do hate you. Abigail, what the heck is going on?”

“Zane owes me a favor from last year,” Abigail replied cheerfully. “So he’s here to duel Jaden!”

Syrus didn’t seem to have a voice, but Chumley’s surprised _“What?”_ was sufficient for both of them. Zane was adjusting the Duel Disk already on his arm, and said nothing. Jaden looked too excited to be bothered by the dour moods of his friends.

“Trust me-” He was looking at Syrus, who currently appeared a mixture of betrayed and scared. “-when I say that you don’t wanna miss this!”

Melodia tightened her grip on his shoulder and watched silently as Zane and Jaden took their positions. Abigail stood beside her. After a pause of consideration, Melodia kicked her with a zapping foot. The small yelp was satisfying.

The two duelists activated their Disks and drew their cards. Jaden was still smiling. “Alright, time to figure out exactly what’s going on here! And I get to duel the proclaimed school #1 doing it!”

Jaden took the first move, drawing then summoning Avian. After setting a card, he ended his turn. Zane replied with a Cyber Dragon, its 2100 attack points slightly more than double Avian’s. _Wait—_

“Cyber Dragon is level 5,” she remembered, just as Jaden exclaimed the same thing. “He needs a tribute for that.”

“When there’s a monster on your field but none on mine, Cyber Dragon’s effect lets me summon it without a tribute.” Zane looked so completely indifferent that Melodia couldn’t imagine him as an exciting duelist to watch. “Next, I activate the spell card Mystical Space Typhoon from my hand. This destroys your facedown card!”

The facedown was destroyed, as was Avian once Zane attacked it with Cyber Dragon, knocking Jaden’s life points down to 2900. Melodia felt Syrus’ shaking resume, and she dropped her hand from his shoulder to his side, finding his arm and entwining her fingers around his. _His best friend is dueling his older brother, planned behind his back. Whatever Jaden and Abigail think they’re doing, they better hope it works out._

Zane activated Different Dimension Capsule to send a card from his deck out of play for two turns; upon its return, it would be added to his hand. He then ended his turn. Whatever move Jaden made was lost as Melodia ran herself through a short breathing exercise. Abigail liked playing tricks, but they were never harmful. She’d likely done this with Syrus in mind, though how she’d set this up only the day after the Power Bond incident… That was suspicious.

As her head returned to the duel, she noted Jaden had the fusion Thunder Giant out, and Cyber Dragon was gone. Since Jaden attacked Zane directly, she assumed it was Thunder Giant’s effect that had taken out the other monster. Zane’s life points dropped to 1600. Jaden ended his turn with a facedown card.

Zane began his turn, and Melodia realized that Syrus was no longer shaking.

A new Cyber Dragon was summoned in the same manner as the first, quickly joined by its predecessor by the use of Monster Reborn. Polymerization fused them into Cyber Twin Dragon, holding 2800 attack points. Zane explained its effect – two attacks during the battle phase, meaning Jaden would take a direct hit after Thunder Giant’s destruction. The duel would be over.

Syrus was shaking again, but she looked at him this time. He didn’t seem scared – just angry.

As Zane started the first attack, Jaden activated his facedown, A Hero Emerges. Melodia wasn’t familiar with it, so she was grateful that duel etiquette led him to explain. Zane would pick a card from Jaden’s hand, and if it was a monster, it would be summoned. However, Jaden only had one card in his hand, revealed to be Wroughtweiler, and it appeared on the field in defense mode. With the dog and Thunder Giant, Jaden only lost 400 points.

With Wroughtweiler destroyed, its effect allowed Jaden to return an Elemental Hero and a Polymerization from his graveyard to his hand. The Hero he chose was Clayman. Zane ended his turn.

Beside Melodia, Abigail was bouncing, or maybe vibrating was a better word. She always got strangely excited during duels, and it seemed this one was no exception. Melodia wondered if it was part of the ‘sensing duel energy’ power Angela had mentioned she had – ah, right, mental note remembered. She still needed to ask Abigail about all that. The only powers she’d listed in Milly’s book were the ones Melodia already knew she had. Oh, and Rose Warrior still wanted to battle Midnight Angel…

“Yeah, this is a blast! This duel’s got me all pumped up!”

“It is fun, isn’t it?”

Melodia’s gaze snapped over to Zane, and she noticed the tiny smile that had appeared on his face. When she checked on Syrus, his own face was full of shock. Suspiciously, she glanced at Abigail, and if possible she seemed even happier than ten seconds ago. _What...are you trying to pull here, Abi?_

If nothing else, at least Chumley was acting normally. He looked as freaked out as her gut felt by all this.

Jaden’s turn began by summoning Bubbleman. With it being the only monster on his field, its effect let him draw two cards. His focus seemed to tunnel as he viewed them, and Melodia wondered if he’d found a winning strategy. After several seconds of silence, he activated Polymerization, fusing the on-field Bubbleman with the in-hand Clayman to summon Mudballman. God, who _named_ these cards? This was getting ridiculous. Either way, Mudballman’s defense points were 3000, a solid wall that could withstand Cyber Twin Dragon’s double attack.

Everyone else was completely pulled into the duel, even Syrus. Whether it was her feelings about how it had been planned or...something else, Melodia found she couldn’t join them. This was just a duel. She didn’t know why it was happening or why Abigail was so keen about it. She couldn’t tell what kind of effect it was having on Syrus.

 _Take care of him,_ Zane had told her. The hand that wasn’t holding Syrus’ clenched into a fist. However this duel ended, she had a response to that ‘request’ when it was over.

With Zane’s draw came the return of the Different Dimension Capsule. Syrus half-cried out as the enclosed card was added to Zane’s hand, and the only thought that went through Melodia’s mind was, _Power Bond._

“Jaden,” he warned, “you played well, but this might be the end.”

“If it is, I can’t wait to see it!”

“You’ve been using all the power you have, and that’s allowed me to do the same. Thank you for that.”

A thanks? From the picture she’d had painted of Zane’s character, that seemed out of style for him. Then again, most of her information came from Syrus’ behavior, and the rest from gossip. She truly didn’t know this guy.

 _If I was able to teach you_ anything _through all my crap, I’m glad it was how to prioritize someone’s safety over your own feelings._

Lance’s words came up unexpectedly in her mind. She didn’t really know what they were supposed to mean in relation to Zane’s. Were the actions that Zane took in ignoring Syrus meant to be like the ones Lance had taken in ignoring her? For his safety? That didn’t make sense. Zane wasn’t in any military, he wasn’t even out of high school. Where would he have come up with that kind of stupid idea, and why would he have decided it was a good plan? He wasn’t Lance. He didn’t seem impulsive or rash. His way of dueling made him read as the calm, rational type – in fact, the exact opposite of Lance.

So what was the deal? What was Zane trying to do with all this?

Why did it put a knot in her stomach?

She was more than happy to abandon her train of thought as Zane activated De-Fusion, replacing Cyber Twin Dragon with its fusion material. Then came the card that had started the whole thing – Power Bond. He didn’t just use it on the two Cyber Dragons on his field; no, he added a third from his hand into the mix, too. The resulting Cyber End Dragon, boosted by Power Bond, had 8000 attack points.

Cyber End Dragon’s effect treated a protecting monster’s defense points as attack, subtracting the difference between the two as damage. Though logically she knew that Power Bond’s negative effect would give Jaden the win if he lasted the turn, Melodia felt somewhere deep inside that it was over. For some reason, it made her feel queasy.

The attack went through. Jaden’s monster was destroyed, and his life points followed. In a panic, Syrus rushed to his side.

When Melodia shifted her attention to Zane, she felt dizzy. Jaden said something and she missed it entirely. Chumley, too.

Abigail’s hand touched her shoulder, and out of Melodia’s control, it was zapped. She jumped back with a cry of surprise. “M-Moon? Hey-”

“Zane!” She felt angry. No, more than that, Melodia felt pissed. She didn’t understand what all of this was about, why Abigail and Jaden set it up, why Zane was standing there dueling as if Syrus wasn’t present. She didn’t understand why she could hear her heartbeat or why her breath felt heavy or why she wasn’t bothered at the fact that she’d zapped Abigail. Blood rushed through her ears, and she thought she was looking at Zane but she couldn’t tell, because everything was a blur. “Zane! Do yourself a favor! Don’t pawn your duties off on me, jackass!” Beside her, Abigail gasped, and she didn’t care, she _didn’t care_ , why didn’t she just _shut up?_ “I’m not gonna do your job, no one should have to but you! You’re the one who should be taking care of Syrus, you hear?”

“Moon wait, that’s not-” Abigail tried to grab her again, and this time Melodia jolted back, sparks gathering in her hands like balls of thorns. “Moon!”

Someone spoke, but she didn’t know who. Abigail was a blue blur in front of her, and Zane didn’t matter now. None of the others mattered now, this was Abigail’s fault, _Abigail’s fault,_ she’d set this up and clearly had no intention of explaining herself, but maybe with some _incentive_ she would and—

Melodia was grabbed from behind, stronger arms than her own pinning hers to her sides. She let out a frustrated scream. She couldn’t zap them, the energy was already locked into her hands, and even if she could she’d zap herself and that was stupid, she wasn’t the problem here, _they_ were—

“Abigail, do something!” It was Zane that was holding her back, and that just pissed her off more. The blue blur that was Abigail was coming closer, and even if she couldn’t get a good swing, Melodia could still thrust the thorn energy at her if she got close enough. Someone screamed, but it was muffled, everything was muffled by the blood rushing through her ears, nonstop, and it hurt, holding this energy in her hands hurt and she wanted _them_ to feel it, not her—

And suddenly a voice broke through, crystal clear, the only thing that made any sense in this madness, and she stopped.

“Twinkle, twinkle little star-”

It was a small voice, warbly with fear and uncertainty. She knew it, she _knew_ she knew it, but she couldn’t place how.

“-how I wonder what you are-”

It wasn’t coming closer, it wasn’t threatening her. Something in her mind told her to shut up, to drop the energy, to listen.

“-up above the world so high-”

Syrus? Was that Syrus? Why?

“-like a diamond in the sky-”

Something told her to drop the energy, and she listened. It fell to the concrete and dissipated harmlessly. Something told her to stop fighting, and she listened. She went still in Zane’s grasp.

“-twinkle twinkle little star-”

Something about this song made all her anger just...go away. She didn’t want to fight. She wanted to listen.

“-how I wonder what you are!”

A long green blur was settled around her neck like a scarf. Several long breaths and blinks later, her vision was clear, and Abigail was standing in front of her with arms outstretched. A vine tickled her neck, smelling familiar. She saw Abigail nod, and slowly, Zane released her.

For the life of her, Melodia couldn’t figure out why she’d been so angry. She didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was the fact that there was a large cut on Abigail’s face and a series of slashes down her right sleeve, each one marked with red. Melodia shakily stepped back, flashes of her last two years of elementary school spinning in her head, kids injured just like this before she realized she was the one doing it and she’d hidden herself away from everyone, isolating herself for their safety.

She hadn’t hurt anyone all of middle school. She’d thought that now, if her power was supposed to heal, it couldn’t happen ever again.

Before she could cry, or apologize, or do anything at all but shake, Melodia was wrapped up in a hug by the very person she’d hurt. “Congrats,” Abigail whispered, “you just made it through your first official curse spike. No casualties, minimal injuries. A-plus.”

Melodia’s mouth moved as she _tried_ to apologize, but no noise come out. Guilt she hadn’t felt in years welled up, swirling in her gut and making her feel sick. Her arms moved of their own accord, clinging to Abigail. Her mind tried to come up with some way to make it up to her, to earn her forgiveness.

“I’m sorry.” _Abigail’s_ apology stopped her thoughts short. “I’m sorry, I should’ve told you. I should’ve warned you so this wouldn’t happen. This isn’t your fault, it’s mine, and I’m sorry.”

Blinking back tears, Melodia wanted to protest, but her voice still wouldn’t work. At the edge of her hearing, she heard Zane: “How did you know that would work?”

Syrus’ voice responded. “I-I didn’t. I just...I knew music helped Miss Rosenberg, somehow, s-so I thought it might help Melodia too. I just sang the first thing that popped into my head.”

“It was perfect. You did great.”

“I-I did?”

 _He did?_ Melodia didn’t want to let go of Abigail, not by any means, but just as much she wanted to ask what was going on. Zane and Syrus were talking. She’d missed something, and she didn’t know if it was due to the curse blinding her or if she was just dense.

 _I don’t understand._ That was what it came down to. Something during that duel had let something click between Syrus and his brother, and she had no idea what it was.

“Syrus...” Zane gave a sigh. “If you’re willing, I’d like to talk. Melodia wasn’t wrong about anything she said. I’ve been hurting you, and now I’ve hurt your friends as well. I take full responsibility for that and I want to make things right.”

She could hear the tears that Syrus was trying to hold back. “I...I wanna talk, too.”

Melodia’s hands tightened around Abigail’s blazer. She still felt sick, but not quite as much. Talking was a step, a step she wasn’t ready for but Syrus was, and that was amazing. Zane was willing to talk about it instead of trying to sweep it under the rug.

She still didn’t know exactly what had happened during that duel, but she recognized her part in it – her curse spike had done something more than injure Abigail. It had jarred something in Zane’s head, something good, and that was enough.

Maybe she didn’t need to know the details. Syrus was the one who needed to understand, not her, and as long as he did, she was happy. Jealous, but happy.

“Take care of him.” Her voice was quiet, too quiet for anyone but Abigail to hear, so she dug deep and tried again. “Take care of him, Zane.”

She couldn’t see him, couldn’t see any of them with the way she was wrapped around Abigail, but she heard him answer, “I’ll do my best.”

Melodia took a shuddering breath. Even if she wasn’t ready to make this step herself, she was glad they were. That was enough.

“Melodia?” It was Syrus who said her name, and she tugged sideways, and Abigail turned to let her see him. It was an awkward shuffle, neither of them loosening their grip, but they managed. Syrus only continued when she met his gaze, though he was a little blurry through her tears. “I think I’ll be okay. You should...you should keep looking for that song, but not for me. Try it for yourself.”

Something between a laugh and a sob fell out of her mouth. She’d just broken down in front of them, yet he showed no fear. All he wanted was for her to feel better.

“Zane’s lucky to have you as his brother,” she told him through the lump in her throat. “Anyone would be.”

Somehow, his smile was the only forgiveness she needed.

* * *

That night, Melodia stood outside the cursed dorm, concentrating. She’d taken Abigail to the infirmary, where she’d been patched up and Miss Fontaine had written an incident report to pass up to Chancellor Sheppard. Abigail assured her she’d likely be let off with a warning since the curse took away her control, and Angela would definitely vouch for her on that account. She’d also agreed with Syrus’ advice, urging her to sing for herself, because a healer could only help others if she was in the condition to do so, and she clearly had things she needed to figure out.

Melodia had eaten dinner, not really hungry, but knowing she’d need the energy to use any sort of controlled power. The spike had given her enough build-up to use, but not enough to keep her from using it all. She had to have some left over or she’d just pass out, and that wouldn’t help at all.

None of the songs the music club had suggested for ‘finding oneself’ seemed right. She’d listened to all of them carefully, looked up all the lyrics, but nothing clicked. They were all crossed out, and the notebook page they were written on had been torn out and tossed in the garbage in frustration.

She’d tried another avenue. Larmina and Hunk didn’t listen to a lot of music that had lyrics, so they’d advised her to try Pidge. His only response was to email her a file, one she’d forgotten about. She didn’t know how he’d ended up with it until she remembered her computer in the Castle of Lions was automatically backed up to the mainframe and it had likely played at some point during a ‘play all listed music’ event.

The song was one she’d written years ago, in fifth grade, trying to cope with her powers and the isolation from her brothers and herself. She’d been so proud of it, and it had been the one thing during middle school that kept her from crossing the line of zapping people, no matter how much she wanted to. She’d lost the file from her main computer due to a virus the previous winter, and she was too reluctant to visit the Castle of Lions to download it from there. When Larmina had taken her up earlier that summer, she’d been too busy trying to reconnect with Lance to remember it.

It was the one bonding moment she shared with anyone on the Force. Hunk had helped her, not asking why she wanted it, just putting together the tune she’d imagined with the instruments he thought fit best. He’d given advice on lyrics and how to phrase things, and it was only in retrospect that she realized he likely knew exactly what she wanted it for – a way to encourage herself after Lance had started rejecting her only a few weeks before. He might not have known the curse played a part, but that didn’t matter.

She was his best friend’s little sister, and when it came to his friends’ families, Hunk saw them as his own. And she’d only really spoken to him one time, for this, after the Incident.

Syrus was right. Hunk was right. Rose Warrior was right. She wasn’t a fighter, but she tried anyway, and that was enough.

She was enough, and she needed to remember that.

With the energy gathered, she started humming. The song had imprinted itself in her mind much like Silvio’s had, and she could remember every note and every word precisely. As she activated the magic, it swirled around her, creating a projection to fit the song. She didn’t know what she would see. She hadn’t planned anything. Melodia wanted to know if there was something inside her, from all those years ago, that would push itself out to be seen.

The projection consisted of the entrance to Duel Academy’s main building. She stood in front of it, alone, staring at it like it held the answers to all life’s mysteries. The song didn’t feel like it came from her – it surrounded her, swallowed her, and it was all she knew.

_“She never thought that she would”_

_“Get her second chance”_

_“Running so far from all she's ever known”_

Duel Academy had been her escape, there was no lying about that. At Duel Academy, only a select few knew who she was, and she’d been almost able to start over like Melodia Farstrike didn’t exist.

_“Convinced she lost all meaning”_

_“Where did her dreams go”_

_“Still she knew that there was something more”_

Memories flashed into view – the suspicious architecture, Enzo’s brothers, Demonica, her practical. All the things that had gone wrong, not letting her live the new life she had hoped for without a catch. And yet she remained, clinging to that promise, the one that she believed in more than anything else in her entire life: _You will never be lost or alone again._ She may have strayed since her arrival on the island, but she’d always come back. She was never truly lost.

_“Don't be scared, there's someone there”_

_“To say these words you need to hear”_

She turned around, and her friends stood there – Bastion, Abigail, Enzo, Angela, Syrus, Professor Banner, everyone. One way or another, they all cheered her on, encouraged her, even though most of them didn’t know the extent of her past or what she was trying to grow beyond.

_“Don't let anybody tell you who you are”_

_“It's OK to let go, you're that shooting star”_

_“Remember all you wished for”_

_“Believe it will be true”_

_“You will never find yourself anywhere else”_

_“You'll find yourself in you”_

It wasn’t any of her friends that delivered this message. They parted like a curtain, and one man walked forward, unshaven and un-showered and looking like his whole world had ended. Tears filled her eyes as Lance hugged her as if he’d never let her go again, her mind flashing back to his words in the cursed dorm a month before. _Dia, I am so proud of you. I trust you. You know that, right? I believe you. Just be careful._

Lance was trying to reach out, but it was so overwhelming after years of pain. She wasn’t ready, but he was still trying. She wanted to be ready.

She’d fight to be ready.

Her brother vanished, and so did Duel Academy and all her friends. Two silhouettes appeared in their place, and she was a child, and they were her brothers, and no matter what she did it was never good enough.

_“Sometimes people tell you”_

_“‘Be like me to fit in’”_

_“Do you know your identity is not in them?”_

They vanished, but she wasn’t alone. A tall figure, backlit by a rainbow of light, any features hidden by a fog that seemed more mental than physical. Hands brown like rich soil and warm like sunlight cupped her face, and though she couldn’t see it, she felt like there was a smile being directed at her.

_“Don't be scared, there's someone there”_

_“To say these words you need to hear”_

Something welcoming, comforting, but otherwise indescribable told her this was the god that had chosen her.

_“Don't let anybody tell you who you are”_

_“It's OK to let go, you're that shooting star”_

_“Remember all you wished for”_

_“Believe it will be true”_

_“You will never find yourself anywhere else”_

_“You'll find yourself in you”_

Duel Monsters cards fell around her, a mix of her own deck and Aniko’s, and all she felt was pain. She didn’t want this. She didn’t want to follow his path, because somewhere along the way it had hurt him and changed him. She’d felt the pain of the curse taking her over, and part of her wondered if something similar had happened to him. There was nothing to prove to him. She hadn’t come here to become a duelist like him, and though she didn’t know quite what it was she _was_ here for, she knew she had plenty of time to find it.

_“Why should I measure the world”_

_“By someone else's design?”_

_“Oh I won't let this fly by”_

Her surroundings cycled through the Ra dorm, her room, the cursed dorm, the familiar settings that still sent up red flags. She wasn’t as panicked about them as she had been – her friends were there with her, helping her comb through books and files, searching for answers right by her side. Far away on Arus, Lance was doing the same thing. She was sure of it, even though he hadn’t reported anything so far. There was just something in her gut that told her _‘he’s still looking’_.

_“Hey look over here I just found the real me”_

_“Now it's your turn to see”_

_“Now it's your turn to see”_

She was a Rose Knight. She had been given this opportunity, and even with the curse spikes and the dark energy and having to sing down her own mentor from blasting them all, it was the most rewarding feeling she’d ever had. Aniko and Lance fought. She healed.

That was who she was – a healer. Not because she had a green rose, that was nothing but an indicator. She’d been a healer all her life – isolating herself from her classmates to prevent herself from hurting them, that was healing. Writing herself a song, that was healing. Taking the path offered to her to Duel Academy, searching for something all her own, that was healing.

Telling Lance how she felt, telling Lance she needed space to think, that was healing.

_“Don't let anybody tell you who you are”_

_“It's OK to let go, you're that shooting star”_

_“Remember all you wished for”_

_“Believe it will be true”_

_“You will never find yourself anywhere else”_

_“You'll find yourself in you”_

She stood in her living room, facing Lance, Christmas decorations scattered throughout her sight. There was a month between now and the time she’d given herself to think, and suddenly she wasn’t scared. She wasn’t worried about it. Whatever she came up with by then, it would be her thoughts, her opinions, her possible solution. That was worth so much.

_“You'll find yourself in you”_

She’d already helped Enzo, Angela, and Syrus. Now she was finally ready to start helping herself again.

_“Find yourself in you”_

* * *

**Moon (Melodia):  
** **Professor Banner, if you’re able to, I want to meet tomorrow after clubs. There’s something I want to do, but right now I don’t know how to do it. I want to figure it out now so I don’t have to keep worrying about getting it right when the time comes.**

 **Prof. L. Banner:  
** **Melodia, you are more than welcome to see me whenever you need to. I am happy to hear out anything you have to say, and I will help as best I can. I will see you tomorrow.**

* * *

 

 

 

This might look familiar! In fact, you might realize this is part of the chapter image!

This is kind of a funny story. My friend Val drew this and shared it on our discord server basically just as I was finishing this chapter (back on June 21 to be exact). At first I was just going to feature it, but as I thought more and more I realized it was a perfect depiction of how Melodia viewed Syrus' relationship with his brother.

She let me sketch over it and make some adjustments and I think it helps describe Melodia's perspective and why it drove her to spike, because so far she's only seen brothers as a problem. All of these problems are different, though, and she's able to acknowledge it, but unfortunately that makes it difficult for her to know how to help Syrus.

(More in the author's note!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song credit: "Find Yourself In You" by Flyleaf
> 
> Hey, just a heads up, don't expect more duels like that in the future, I have no clue how this game works : D
> 
> Okay, so, lots of things about this chapter. First off, the spike. That wasn't planned. I only realized it was going to happen as it was happening, and I just rolled with it and it's sparked (no pun intended) a lot of lore and realizations that are helping me work more with the curse.
> 
> Next: Melodia not seeing the full picture of what was going on in the duel. I think it's important that she didn't, because it adds a sense that it's a personal problem and she's only seeing it from the outside. The situation was something between Syrus and Zane. While Abigail and Jaden saw fit to nose their way in and try to speed up the process of things getting fixed, Melodia was more concerned about working at Syrus' pace. Her view of Zane is also skewed because she's never spoken to him before, so she has no idea what his side of the story is. She doesn't even really know Syrus' side. She just knows there are problems and it's up to Syrus if he wants help with that.  
> Basically I wanted the situation between Syrus and Zane to be very clearly different from what's going on with Melodia and her brothers, and Enzo and his. None of their relationships are the same. It's not as simple as "brothers are jerks". The whole theme of family issues may have been a complete accident, but I don't want to portray them all as equal problems. Each one needs to be dealt with very differently and sometimes that means the difference between whether or not outsiders get involved.  
> That being said...I really wish there were more girls here, because this story is starting to paint brothers in a very unpleasant light. Whoops. I'll uh, try to not stick to that.
> 
> Oh, also, fun fact: I have the Syrus/Zane picture saved under the name "AGGRESSIVE BOOP" : D  
> (And...no, I don't know who the red feet on the left belong to XD)


	9. Chapter 7: Reaching Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish I had a better image for this one. Nothing was working, though. I do love the chapter.
> 
> Also, I've noticed a lot of random spaces inserting themselves sometimes. I keep trying to fix them as I check past chapters, but then I end up finding more elsewhere. I really don't know what to do about it. Hope they're not a bother.

__

 

 _Melodia,_  
 _Hope this finds you well. I wanted to let you know that I was able to finish the tests on those figurines far earlier than expected. The reason for this is...well, there’s nothing wrong with them at all. There are no signs of any energy or technology radiating from around or within them._ _I’ve run every test I can think of, some more than once. I don’t think there’s anything to find, but if you’re not convinced, you don’t have to take them back. I know Aniko is...hostile, and a gift from him is rather suspicious._  
 _Beyond that, I wanted to warn you about something. Well, warn might be a strong word. Inform, perhaps. Every year for_ _a_ _bout a_ _month_ _, since the school’s founding_ _nine_ _years ago, Duel Academy has taken one student from a selected alien planet to live in as a_ _short-term_ _exchange student. That_ _month_ _starts next Monday_ _and ends at your winter break_ _. I’ve made sure that Chancellor Sheppard understands you’re not to be involved in this. So, any interaction that may happen between you and this visiting exchange student is completely up to you._  
 _Hunk said you sounded upset last night asking for those song ideas. Sorry for digging that old thing out. I thought it might help...I hope it did. Oh, and don’t worry, we didn’t tell Lance. We didn’t want to cause him any more worry than he already had with these intruders that keep popping up. Might I suggest_ _add_ _ing a radar/sonar_ _detector_ _to the security_ _systems_ _? It would help detect incoming vessels and hopefully prevent this from continuing. Vince says he’s_ _already_ _in contact with one of the staff members, something about details regarding_ _a subject_ _he’s been looking into for a while, and I’m sure he’d be willing to pop down to talk to the Chancellor about it._  
 _I know it’s none of my business, but Lance seems out of it again after you two spoke yesterday. Not anywhere near the same level as last time, but it’s noticeable. I hope things are alright. You two seemed to be really reconnecting this summer. It was nice to see._  
 _Enough of my nosing in. I hope your day goes well.  
_ _-Pidge_

 _Pidge,_  
 _Thanks for checking so thoroughly. It means a lot. Keep them for now, I’m working through some things and they’re honestly safer with you._  
 _I_ _appreciate that you thought of me_ _regarding this exchange student. Some second-year friends of mine mentioned the tradition and I was a little worried about getting roped in._  
 _The song helped more than you know. I don’t want to get into details, but I really needed it. Thank you so much._  
 _That system sounds like a good idea. I’ll pitch it to the Chancellor when I have some free time. Maybe it could be installed over winter break._  
 _As for Lance, I said some things to him that are probably making him think a lot. If something happens like last time, please let me know. I didn’t say any of it to hurt him and I’ll take responsibility if it does._  
 _Hope you have a good day too. Thanks for everything, even your nosiness.  
_ _Melodia_

 

 **Zane:  
** **I wanted to apologize again for trying to drag you into my family’s problems. There are things I would rather not say regarding how I came to act as I did. That being said, your outburst helped me realize that these actions went beyond tough love.** **Syrus and I had a long and far overdue talk last night thanks to you.  
** **I will not try to excuse my actions, but I also want to clarify my reasoning for asking you to watch over my brother. I’ve seen the way you two interact during robotics. It’s different from his friendship with Jaden.  
** **Syrus hasn’t had a lot of calm, reassuring influences in his life. You’ve changed that, both with yourself and the inclusion of Bastion Misawa. I was hoping with help from the two of you, Syrus would come to understand what I wanted to teach him. I didn’t realize I’d driven him to such fear over a single card.  
** **I hope it’s not crossing the line to ask you to continue being there for him. There are several years of conflict that he and I need to resolve, and knowing he has you to go to for advice would take a weight from my shoulders.  
** **Once again, I am sincerely sorry.**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **If you’ll cross the line, so will I. More than anything I’m glad that you’re willing to change. Syrus hardly spoke about you, and the times that he did were very telling of how he felt. It was dangerously close to my own situation and I was terrified to see it mimicked by my friend.  
** **My advice is to never act like none of it happened. It did happen. There’s no changing that. Be aware and be alert. Most importantly, remember that it will take time.  
** **Thank you for explaining. Also, if you haven’t already, praise the crap out of him for helping the VF last spring. He saved lives. Get that boy a feast.**

 **Zane:  
** **I’ll keep your advice in mind.  
** **Good luck with your troubles.**

* * *

Every day after clubs, from Tuesday to Thursday, Melodia met with Professor Banner, in the occult club room the first day and out at the Slifer dorm cliffs the second and third. She kept Lance anonymous by using his middle name, and vented about things she’d held in for years. Professor Banner kept her busy as she did so; she rearranged things in the club room or helped fix up the Slifer dorm. It gave her something to focus on if her memories became overwhelming, letting her stop talking and clean or sort instead of losing herself. It worked wonderfully. She barely sparked at all during their sessions.

When she saw him in robotics on Tuesday, (regardless of Enzo’s pleading, she wanted to stay near Angela after her curse spike) Zane didn’t act _entirely_ different, yet somehow seemed like a totally new person. He took Syrus’ project and gave it an inspection, writing notes as he did so. It wasn’t uncommon for him to do this; the difference was that he was showing visible signs of pride as he did so. Usually when he looked over another person’s project, it was after being asked, and he was completely impassive the entire time. His expressiveness toward Syrus’ project was freaking out all the other Obelisks in the club. Bastion even asked her if she thought Zane had been brainwashed or replaced. It took her an actual minute to realize he wasn’t joking.

The whole room jumped when she laughed so hard she sparked. Luckily the mini-shower hit only her table and a bit of the floor. Angela still made her chew on an Indanth vine piece from the indoor pot she kept in the club room. She didn’t seem too panicked, though – it wasn’t a negative emotion that had caused the surge this time. That was new, and hopefully a sign that the curse wasn’t growing as badly as they thought it was. Her mark was still fully green, a welcome surprise that Angela made sure to double-check every day. Remembering the spot of brown that had briefly appeared after the single interaction with Aniko, Melodia couldn’t blame her.

She never saw the man herself, but Wednesday before class she learned from the Slifer gang that Chumley’s dad had been on the island both the day before and earlier that same morning, trying to take Chumley home due to believing he didn’t belong at Duel Academy. The repeat third-year had managed to prove otherwise; though he lost the deciding duel against his father, his words and feelings still got through. Melodia was beyond proud and wished she’d seen it. Professor Banner confirmed that evening it had been a very powerful moment.

Abigail was out and about like she wasn’t sporting a huge patch of gauze on her face. The cuts on her arm were obviously also bandaged, but they were hidden by her blazer – a spare, as the first was off being repaired. Tuesday and Wednesday she kept getting asked what had happened. She gave a different answer every time, anything from facing bears to blowing up an alien sun. It had the desired effect of making everyone leave her alone while amusing her at the same time. Melodia took mental notes.

Speaking of mental notes, after dinner on Thursday, Melodia was able to finally convince Abigail to duel with her copy of Midnight Angel. It was weird seeing the spirit on her opponent’s field instead of her own, and she elected to keep her own card out of it, not wanting to see what would happen if two were out at once. Rose Warrior was more than happy to be summoned for the first time, and though she lost their scuffle, seemed extremely pleased. Both spirits were thrilled when Melodia managed to win the duel, as were both duelists.

Melodia wasn’t exactly sure where Abigail got the celebratory ice cream and was too afraid to ask.

Friday rolled around, and with it, the tag duel. Afternoon classes and clubs were canceled as to allow the students the choice to watch. Melodia’s usual Ra group was joined by Chumley, Abigail, and Zane, and they sat together in the main arena, trying to guess who Jaden and Syrus’ opponents would be. Unfortunately, even Abigail’s divination couldn’t give a sure answer. Apparently there were some things one just couldn’t see ahead of time.

Jaden and Syrus arrived, looking around at the crowd. As they approached the duel stage, they noticed the group. Melodia couldn’t tell who Syrus was directing his determined look at – her or Zane.

The two joined Professor Crowler on the stage, who announced the tag duel’s beginning before having a brief discussion with Chancellor Sheppard, who sat in the front row nearby. Shortly after, he gestured to a spot at the side of the stage, and two duelists Melodia hadn’t noticed at all jumped out, backward-handstand-jumping their way over to – and _literally over_ – Jaden and Syrus, landing behind them.

Beside her, Zane jolted, letting out a small gasp. He quite literally looked more expressive than she’d ever seen him. It wasn’t quite fear, but it was a little more than disbelief.

“Is that who I think it is?” Dimitri was already almost out of his seat.

They couldn’t hear Professor Crowler’s introduction, given at a normal speaking volume, but Bastion filled them in. “The Paradox brothers. Duelists who’ve gone against Yugi Muto himself, and gave him quite a run too. It was during Pegasus’ Duelist Kingdom tournament a little over 20 years ago.”

Chumley looked terrified. “The Chancellor wouldn’t really allow this, would he?”

Abigail dropped back against her seat, crossing her arms and huffing. “Have you been paying attention to that man at all? Of course he would. He’s a complete sucker for pro duelists, and Professor Crowler is likely spinning it as setting an appropriate example.”

“You okay, man?” Enzo was eyeing Zane, who still looked a little pale. The older student didn’t quite seem himself.

“Syrus is already freaking out,” Brier reported.

“Of course he is.” Zane’s voice didn’t shake, but it also didn’t hold the same strength they were used to hearing. “Those are the duelists that knocked our parents out of Duelist Kingdom.”

The entire group turned to him in surprise, but he made no attempt to take it back. It seemed like he couldn’t decide whether he was angry or worried, so he was some mix of both. “Of all the people for Syrus to have to face, it just had to be them, didn’t it...” This was only a mutter, but Melodia could hear his frustration clearly.

Professor Crowler called for the pairs to take their places. Excited applause washed through the half-filled arena, though Melodia’s group was fully silent. When Syrus looked their way, she gave him two thumbs up; the rest, even Zane when he noticed them, followed suit.

_You can do this, Sy. You’ve been practicing all week. We’re all behind you!_

Even with the distance, she could see the fire in his eyes. He believed he could win just as much as they did.

The duel was fierce, and the first with professionals that Melodia ever enjoyed. The Paradox brothers identified Syrus within the first couple of turns, but rather than mock him, they seemed proud to face the son of their past opponents, challenging him to do what his parents could not. Because of this, Syrus recovered from the shock of their appearance quickly, though was still a little shaky in general.

Jaden was having fun. The Paradox brothers were having fun. _Syrus_ was having fun.

Syrus using Power Bond was what won them the duel. Melodia politely didn’t mention the tears she saw in Zane’s eyes as they applauded, but it was a little harder to ignore him walking up to the stage as Chancellor Sheppard announced the expulsion lifted. Zane addressed the Paradox brothers first, introducing himself and thanking them for dueling with honor. He then turned to Jaden and Syrus, congratulating them, and shaking his brother’s hand with what could almost be called a grin. Melodia could have been imagining it, but the Paradox brothers looked a little emotional seeing the interaction. Maybe it was a ‘we defeated your parents and you’ve surpassed them by beating us’ thing. Or a brothers thing.

Though they were no longer being expelled, Jaden and Syrus were now each tasked with writing a 30-page essay on dueling strategies. Their detentions and suspensions from club activities would be lifted once these were completed. Chumley was not as lucky, but he was so excited that his friends weren’t leaving that he clearly didn’t care.

Zane told Syrus he’d be waiting for his return to robotics, hoping to get an outside opinion on his project after having done the same for him. Melodia couldn’t describe the amount of joy in Sy’s smile, or the awkward hope in Zane’s.

As Jaden and Syrus returned to their dorm to start their essays, Melodia did the same, though for a slightly different project. She promised the others she’d meet them in the library once she was done.

With her door locked, her mind surprisingly settled, and Rose Warrior’s card sitting on her desk, Melodia composed an email.

 

 _Lance,_  
 _Having a good day. Hope you are too. Some friends of mine just dueled their way out of expulsion, so this school is still kinda nuts._  
 _I’ve been doing a lot of thinking this week. I don’t feel like I’m close to an answer, but I’m at least closer. Still hoping to see you over winter break._  
 _We haven’t really talked about it, but I’m still looking into the architecture. Please let me know if you have better luck than us._  
 _Don’t really know what to say. Just wanted you to know I’m not trying to totally ignore you._  
 _I’m attaching a song file. I don’t think you ever heard it. Hunk helped me write it back when my curse first showed up. I thought it might help you figure things out on your end. I know it helped me._  
 _Regardless of personal things, I do feel safe knowing you’re watching the island._  
 _Dia  
_ _[file attached: FindYourselfInYou._ _mp3_ _]_

Melodia gathered the research notes and went to join her friends.

 

 _Dia,_  
 _Card games are crazy. Still coming home for winter break._  
 _Files on DA are surprisingly hard to find. KC likes its privacy. Will keep you posted._  
 _If you decide to re-record this song, I’d love to hear it._  
 _I might not deserve to say this, but I love you. Have fun.  
_ _Lance_

She slept well that night, relieved that the olive branch had been extended and received without breaking. She wasn’t ready, but she was getting there.

* * *

When she came back to the Ra dorm for lunch after meeting Professor Banner the next morning, she was surprised to see Jaden and Syrus pigging out at a table with Bastion. Amused and curious, she got herself a plate and joined them, noting the smell of paint that surrounded them. “Okay, I’ve clearly missed something. Fill me in.”

“The Ra team beat us in baseball, and Bastion and Jay made a bet that whoever lost had to do whatever the other said,” Syrus explained. He looked a little tired, but the food was definitely helping. “So we were helping Bastion paint his room.”

Melodia gave Bastion a knowing look. “Your practical finally got rescheduled, then?” She knew her blackout had resulted in several exams needing to be rescheduled, and they’d been happening throughout the past two weeks. “Congrats! Have fun in Obelisk.”

“Now, now...”

“Uh-oh, someone’s trying to be humble!” Jaden laughed, and it proved contagious, quickly picked up by both Melodia and Syrus.

“Okay, okay, enough of that! Nothing is assured.” Bastion shook his head, though was clearly amused. “Moon, could I trouble you to be my planning partner this afternoon? The duel is tomorrow, and you have a keen eye for loopholes.”

“Sure, no problem. But if your room is covered in drying paint, where are you sleeping?”

She shouldn’t have been surprised when Jaden pointed to himself, but she was. “Ah. Fair enough. Have fun in Slifer, don’t freak out if Pharaoh appears from the walls. I swear that cat can get anywhere.”

She and Bastion spent the entire afternoon running through different strategies, stopping only because of their growling stomachs for dinner. They studied in the lobby with the others for a while, then as it grew dark, Jaden and Syrus arrived to escort him to Slifer. Melodia took Bastion’s books and notes to her room for the night.

For some reason, she had trouble sleeping. She rolled around for a while before opening her eyes and staring out her window, trying to settle her mind. She supposed it was the thought of Bastion leaving Ra. He’d been there with her since the ride to the island, and while she doubted he’d leave her and the others in the dust just because he was promoted, it still felt like he was going to leave them behind. No more study sessions in the Ra lobby, no more meals together…

But he deserved it, more than anyone else. She knew that. So she’d support him, even if it hurt.

Just as she closed her eyes, she heard footsteps in the hall. Loud ones, and moving fast too. They went past her room and faded with distance, but her curiosity was piqued. Throwing off her blanket, she went to unlock her door and see what was going on.

The hallway was dark, but moonlight shone in through the windows. It was easy to see a figure rifling through the desk Bastion had left in the hall with the rest of his furniture.

It was even easier to identify him, because she’d know that stupid angular hair from a mile away. “Princeton, what the _actual hell?”_

Chazz Princeton jumped away from the desk, his hand disappearing behind his back. It wasn’t quick enough for her to miss the fact that it held a deck of cards. Was he—

This wasn’t right on so many levels.

“Chazz.” She kept her voice level and lowered, not wanting to wake up her dorm mates. “Put the cards back, right now, and I won’t report you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“For the love of god, don’t play dumb _now!_ This isn’t a joke. You’re a lot of things, but you’re not a thief! Give me Bastion’s deck and no one will know you tried to pull this.” She extended her arm, palm outstretched.

He glared at her, and she retaliated with her own. Her hand didn’t drop. He made no move to return the cards. “As if I’d believe that,” he snapped.

“Unlike you, I actually have some sense of decency.”

“Says the girl who’s too ashamed of her family name to tell her _precious friends_ who she really is.”

Melodia bit the inside of her mouth to keep from retorting. Her slippered foot twisted on the floor, a physical motion to mimic the mental act of screwing the tap tightly shut. She wouldn’t rise to his bait. Not this time. “The cards, Chazz. This is your last warning.”

Neither of them dropped their gazes. He continued to make no sign of movement, so she stepped forward first, fixing him with the most ‘don’t screw yourself over’ look she could manage.

It was while she was in the middle of her step that he took action. He lunged forward, shoving into her, and with her balance off-kilter she was knocked to the ground. Anger flared through her, but she was better than that, better than _him,_ and as he ran down the hall she lifted her arm once more and thought a single word: _Stun._

White energy shot from her hand like a lightning bolt, crashing into his arm with an audible _zzzzzt!_ With a yelp his hand twitched open, Bastion’s cards spilling onto the floor.

Chazz’s face screamed nothing but rage and disgust, and he spat out one word of his own before booking it: _“Freak.”_

One word had saved Bastion’s deck, but one word also spun through her head and kept her from moving fast enough to catch Chazz. By the time she stumbled to her feet and made it to the lobby, he was gone.

In a bit of a daze, she returned to the hall, intent on collecting Bastion’s cards and putting them in her room before reporting the incident to Professor Sartyr. Brier was at his door, rubbing his eyes and looking down at the scattered deck. When he noticed her approach, his head tilted in tired confusion. “Moon? What’s with all the noise?”

She wasn’t able to find her voice until she was standing next to him, and what came out was her best attempt at stamping down the panicked voices in her head. “A-Am...Am I a freak?”

Though he was tired, Brier didn’t miss her shaky tone. “What? No way, why would you—did someone call you that?” Dumbly, she nodded. “Well don’t listen to them. Moon, you’re incredible. Whoever says otherwise is an idiot.”

“...Yeah.” Melodia took a moment to breathe. “Yeah, y-you’re right. Um...I’ll see you for Bastion’s exam in the morning, okay?”

“I’m glad I met you, Moon.”

“...Thank you.”

Defying with a vengeance the idea that middle-schoolers were little, vicious monsters that didn’t care for anyone, Brier gave her a tight hug before returning to his room. Melodia wiped her eyes before kneeling down to collect Bastion’s deck, making sure everything was there. As she did this, she thought carefully, shoving Chazz’s insult from her mind.

Chazz had wanted these for a reason. Was he meant to be Bastion’s opponent? The moment she reported this, Bastion’s practical would be put off for a second time. He’d already had to wait two weeks because of her. She wasn’t going to make him wait another two weeks because of _Chazz._

Once the cards were tucked away in her own Duel Disk, her slippers were replaced by her school shoes, and her room was re-locked, Melodia climbed to the second floor and walked across the dining hall to Professor Sartyr’s room. Angela would be tired and more likely to freak out. She needed someone calmer and more focused if she was going to pull off what she wanted to do.

It was only a few seconds between her knock and the opening of the door. Professor Sartyr had yet to change out of his blazer, and a pile of papers was in his hand. They looked like class assignments. “Ah, Miss Moon, what can I do for you?”

“I need to report an attempted theft. An Obelisk student just tried to steal Bastion’s deck from his furniture in the hall. Can we go see Professor Crowler?”

Professor Sartyr’s eyes widened. “Are you quite sure?”

“Yes. I got the cards back and confirmed.”

“Just—just give me one short moment.” Her dorm head disappeared back into his room, and when he returned, the papers were gone and his shoes were on. “Right then. Off we go.”

Maybe it was her identity, or just because she was an honest student, but the man didn’t question her at all after the initial shock. They kept a quick pace and reached the Obelisk area without disruption, heading for the male dorm as she’d specified Professor Crowler instead of Miss Fontaine.

Unlike Professor Sartyr, Professor Crowler was in his night clothes when they knocked at his door – a long blue gown with frills, pink slippers, and a lavender sleeping mask that was currently pushed up to his forehead. “What on Earth is—Loreto?”

“I’m terribly sorry to disturb you, Vellian,” Professor Sartyr apologized, while Melodia got over the brief shock of remembering her teachers did in fact have first names. “There’s been an incident with one of your students.”

“What? Impossible. Obelisk students know better than to go out past curfew. Miss Moon, what do you have to do with this?”

Melodia wasted no time. She had his attention and planned on keeping it. “I just caught Chazz Princeton trying to steal Bastion Misawa’s deck.”

Both teachers jolted. Professor Crowler exclaimed something that sounded Italian, but not a word she knew. It was something he did often. “Do you have proof of this?” he spluttered.

Melodia crossed her arms, scowling. “Bastion was having his room painted today in prep for his duel tomorrow, and all his furniture was out in the hall. He’s spending the night in the Slifer dorm, so all his things were unguarded. I heard noise in the hall, and when I went to look I found Chazz rummaging through Bastion’s desk. He tried to hide the cards behind him and denied it the whole time, but when he ran for it I managed to get them back.”

Professor Crowler looked despondent. “No, no...this can’t be…!”

“Chazz was supposed to be Bastion’s opponent, right?” she pressed.

“Well… Yes, he was, but...but with a defiance of the rules to this extent...”

“Let me take Chazz’s place. I haven’t had my practical yet either.”

Once again, they both stared at her. For the first time in as long as she could remember, Melodia channeled Lance, dropping her arms to her sides and squaring up her shoulders, fixing Professor Crowler with the most determined look she could pull. “Because of me, Bastion’s practical took two weeks to reschedule, and I’m not going to let this stunt Chazz pulled make him wait again. I’ve dueled Bastion before and we’re on even terms. We’re both Ra students, and that’s how these are supposed to go anyway, right? Don’t cancel the duel. Let me do it.”

The professors considered her. She didn’t dare falter, didn’t dare look away from Professor Crowler’s silent, questioning eyes. She knew he thought little of her, a student so ‘handicapped’ that she hadn’t even been able to reach the default girls’ dorm. It was nothing she hadn’t heard from Obelisk students as well. Honestly, she felt a lot of the school’s current hierarchy problems stemmed from Professor Crowler egging them on, but that wasn’t the problem at this exact moment.

“Give her a chance, Vellian.” Professor Sartyr was behind her, literally and figuratively. “I’ve seen the two duel before. As long as there’s no crowd, she’s wonderful. We can continue working on her stage fright later, but for now I think this may be the most suitable option for both their exams.”

Professor Crowler grumbled to himself, muttering in Italian. Melodia only caught a few words – ‘unbelievable’, and ‘after all I’ve done’. She got the feeling he might have played a part in Chazz doing what he’d done.

God, she had _so_ many complaints about this school, and they all kept going back to Obelisk Blue. Did Chancellor Sheppard pay _any_ attention to what went on here?

With a long, drawn-out sigh, Professor Crowler finally answered. “Fine. Loreto, I’m putting this duel in your hands. I will handle Mister Princeton.” For a moment he glared at the ceiling, then composed himself and looked back down at Melodia. “You’ve done the right thing, Miss Moon. Your honesty is admirable.”

While inwardly cheering, Melodia nodded in thanks, then gave a respectful goodnight before following Professor Sartyr back to their dorm. He went up the stairs; she went down the first-floor hall.

To her surprise someone was already at her door, knocking and clutching a pillow to his chest. Once again, moonlight identified the visitor.

“Enzo?” She tried to keep her voice down, not wanting to wake Brier again, or anyone else. “What’s wrong?”

He jolted at her voice, turning in surprise. His confusion was quickly replaced by relief. “You’re awake.”

“Are you okay?”

Enzo shook his head, holding his pillow tighter. “Is that song ready?”

Melodia had been so caught up in her meetings with Professor Banner and trying to understand Zane that she’d completely neglected her promise to Enzo. “Oh, geez...no, but tell you what. I’ve got a couch, and you can use it tonight. Okay?”

“Wh-really?”

“I mean, think about all the times we’ve gone to wake up Beauregard and found Brier curled up in there. Clearly there’s no rule about it.” She finished her walk to the door, unlocking it and letting them in. “Besides that, I know you won’t pull anything. I trust you. So make yourself at home.”

After a quick, tight hug, Enzo wasted no time in balling himself up on her little couch. As she took off her school shoes and put them back in their designated spot on the floor, he asked, “What had you up?”

“Ah...I’ll tell you in the morning. Nothing that needs worried about right now, okay?”

“Okay...”

“Just try to chill out for a bit. Tomorrow’s Sunday, so you’ll have plenty of time to nap if you can’t sleep tonight.”

“...Thanks.” The word was barely audible.

Melodia gave him a reassuring smile, then sat down at her desk. Moonlit Garden was taken from her deck, as she did before every duel. She made a general check of her cards before sliding them back into their pouch, content with them as they were. She didn’t have an afternoon to prepare like Bastion had, but that was okay. She didn’t have to win this duel. She just needed to do the best she could so it was worth Bastion’s promotion.

Before she could stand, her PDA beeped. There was a second one as she picked it up.

 

 **Syroid (Syrus):  
** **are you up?  
** **Zane wants to know if you’d be okay with him being at Bastion’s duel tomorrow**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **Why is that up to me?**

 **Syroid (Syrus):  
** **you make him nervous  
** **not because of the curse!  
** **though he does want to avoid making that happen again  
** **he’s really sorry  
** **the point is you forced him to realize he’d messed up really badly  
** **he thought he was teaching me something and didn’t know it had gone wrong**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **so me practically biting his head off-  
** **sorry I was going to say something really rude there  
** **how could he not realize he messed up?  
** **And...look  
** **whatever the point of that duel was, I didn’t get it  
** **teach you** **W** **hat  
** **what happened**

 **Syroid (Syrus):  
** **oh  
** **um, so  
** **the power bond banning  
** **that was six years ago  
** **I was dueling this bully and getting really cocky about it, and saying all sorts of things  
** **Zane stepped in and ended the duel and banned me from power bond because it was the reason I acted that way  
** **I don’t know why Abigail got involved but the duel between him and Jay helped it click  
** **he wanted to teach me to respect my opponent, no matter who it might be**

**Moon (Melodia):  
** **so he thought banning a card would teach you that**

 **Syroid (Syrus):  
** **well it’s  
** **it’s more complicated than that  
** **Zane thinks differently  
** **he really thought that it would work  
** **and when I didn’t and he realized that he was too embarrassed to say anything  
** **and somewhere along the way he decided that I’d decided I didn’t care about the card  
** **and that disappointed him and that’s why things escalated the way they did**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **Sy  
** **there is a big difference between a few days and six years  
** **Zane is the best student in the school  
** **he could not possibly be that blind for that long  
** **you shouldn’t excuse him for what he did**

 **Syroid (Syrus):  
** **I’m not!  
** **listen okay  
** **Zane’s horrible with people  
** **he doesn’t pick up on social cues like we do  
** **when he messes up he usually doesn’t realize it until someone tells him  
** **like you did after his duel with Jaden  
** **he genuinely thought he did the right thing and that I decided I didn’t care  
** **no one ever told him otherwise  
** **I’m not saying he didn’t mess up because he did and it did hurt  
** **it hurt for a really long time  
** **but I never questioned him because he was my brother and I respected him  
** **and I knew he didn’t think the way I did since long before the whole thing happened  
** **I was waiting for him to follow up on it and he never did, so I figured he hated me  
** **and so somehow we had this whole thing spiral into the biggest misunderstanding in history**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **so you’re just going to forgive him?**

 **Syroid (Syrus):  
** **that’s not what I’m saying!!  
** **now that we both know exactly what happened he’s able to think about it better  
** **he’s not stuck in the thought loop he’s had since then  
** **and I’m not stuck being angry with him because I realize he was just trying to help  
** **I’m not saying it didn’t hurt  
** **it did  
** **a lot  
** **but he’s trying  
** **like really, really trying, I’ve never seen him work so hard on anything that isn’t a machine  
** **we’ve been talking every day and unraveling everything that stemmed from that duel and he’s starting to understand what he put me through  
** **and he’s really sorry  
** **he wants to make up for it  
** **he wants to change  
** **he wants to try again, to be a better brother, and I want him to do that too  
** **because I know he never meant to hurt me even if that’s what happened  
** **he’s really bad at showing it but he cares about me and  
** **I don’t think I could describe the pain I see on his face when I tell him all the things I’ve felt for the past six years  
** **he wants to make things better  
** **and I want my brother back**

 

 _“Even after everything I did, you didn’t hesitate to call me. Your friend was in danger,_ you _were in danger, and you put that before everything else. If I was able to teach you_ anything _through all my crap, I’m glad it was how to prioritize someone’s safety over your own feelings.”_

_“I’m so glad you’re okay. If something had happened to you… If something had happened to you, I never would’ve forgiven myself, because it would’ve been my fault for pushing you away.”_

 

 _“You wanna tell your six year old sister that something’s wrong with her big brother and she’s not safe around him? Yeah, that wouldn’t scare her at all, would it? Fear can be manipulated. And he_ would _have manipulated it.”_

 

_“I figured if you hated both of us, you wouldn’t have to pick sides, and you wouldn’t get caught in any potential crossfire.”_

 

“Oh,” she breathed, realization clicking at last. _“_ _Oh...”_

 

 **Syroid (Syrus):  
** **I kind of exploded there  
** **sorry**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **no I...  
** **I needed t hear that  
** **sy**

 **Syroid (Syrus):  
** **?**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **thank you  
** **both of you  
** **you just  
** **helped me figure something out  
** **that’s been bothering me ever since school started  
** **I think I understand  
** **I’m still kind of mad at Zane but im glad you two are working it out  
** **um  
** **he can come, I dont mind  
** **just  
** **make sure you dont lose him again, okay?**

 **Syroid (Syrus):  
** **Are you okay?  
** **Moon?  
** **Are you still there?**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **it’s late  
** **I need to sleep  
** **I’ll see you in the morning  
** ***you and Zane**

 **Syroid (Syrus):  
** **okay  
** **sleep well**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **you too  
** **tell Zane im really sorry for almost frying him**

 **Syroid (Syrus):  
** **I will**

 

“Enzo? You don’t mind if I sing to myself?”

“Huh? Sure. You okay?”

“I...need to look at something.”

“Go ‘head.”

Melodia sat at her desk for the next few minutes, singing under her breath. The projection that surrounded her was vastly different from the one she’d been shown the day of Jaden’s duel with Zane. It wasn’t scattered like before. This time it was focused, centered on one specific problem she’d finally gotten an answer to.

_“Don't let anybody tell you who you are”_

_“It's OK to let go, you're that shooting star”_

_“Remember all you wished for”_

_“Believe it will be true”_

_“You will never find yourself anywhere else”_

_“You'll find yourself in you”_

The Lance that delivered the chorus this time was still the miserable wreck from Arus. But he wasn’t isolated to that one part – he overtook everything. He was there showing her she didn’t have to be like Aniko. He was there telling her to be herself, to ignore what everyone else thought of her, to thrive in the opportunities she’d been given.

He was there, apologizing with every word, supporting her with every word, and it wasn’t until the projection faded that she realized she’d been singing through tears and Enzo was leaning over her chair to hug her.

He was trying. He wanted to change. He was affected by this more than anything else had ever hit him, because he wanted to be her brother again.

She wanted that too.

He’d hurt her in order to protect her, and it was probably eating him up inside every second of every day, and her saying she wasn’t ready to move on was probably like a bullet to his heart, when in actuality it wasn’t that she wasn’t ready. She was just _scared._ She didn’t want to go through it again. She didn’t want to risk him distancing himself again thinking he had to protect her, because she didn’t want him to. She didn’t want him to leave her again.

Melodia wanted her brother back.

 

 _Lance,  
_ _Next time you’re on patrol here, could I join you?_

 _Dia,  
_ _I’ll be there on Monday to bring in the exchange student. I’ll have them call you out of class to see your totally normal brother (who isn’t me that arrived hours before)._

 

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **Professor Banner, sorry to say this so last minute, but I need to cancel our meeting tomorrow morning. There are some things I need to do and I don’t know how long it’ll take. I won’t be available Monday, either.** **I h** **ope** **this** **didn’t wake you.**

* * *

Melodia’s alarm went off an hour and a half before breakfast. Enzo, who’d managed to doze a little, slipped out of her room to his own to get dressed. They were the only ones up this early, as the duel was in half an hour and no one wanted to be up at 7:30 on a Sunday, so there was no one to see him move.

She messaged Bastion to say she’d bring his deck. He replied quickly, grateful because he’d forgotten he’d left it. He did have his Duel Disk, at least.

She decided to save mention of Chazz for later. It didn’t matter right now.

Minus Bastion, the Ra group was ready to go at a quarter-til. Melodia brought her school bag, which had her Duel Disk crammed into it, but made a show of taking a collection of things from the snack bar. No one was awake enough to question why the bag already looked full when she did so.

By the time they made it to the main building, they’d gone slow enough that they needed to book it to the arena. Bastion and the others were already there waiting, all of them looking rather confused. Professor Sartyr, in contrast, appeared relieved. “Ah, good, you’ve made it.”

“Yeah, yeah, hang on.” Melodia wrestled her Duel Disk out of her bag, dropping about five snacks on the floor in the process. Everyone was watching her; she didn’t need to check to be able to feel the surprise in the room. “Bastion, here-” She extracted his deck from its place in her Disk as she ran over to the stage, then held it out to him. “And uh, just give me a minute here, I’ll be ready in a sec.”

With everyone still watching her in confusion, Melodia dropped her bag into the stands and loaded her own deck into her Disk. She wasn’t tired like everyone else, just a little jittery. For the first time in as long as she could remember, she was actually _excited_ to duel. She felt herself smiling as she climbed onto the stage, and laughed at Bastion’s face as she finally looked at it. “Oh yeah, so, there was this problem last night with your opponent trying to steal your deck, and I volunteered to take their place so you wouldn’t have to wait again... Surprise!”

So many people shouted from the stands that she didn’t know who was involved or what they were saying. Bastion looked absolutely floored. “Someone tried to—and you’re-”

“I haven’t had my practical yet either, and I’m also kinda the reason yours got put off, so...” She chuckled sheepishly. “Here we are. Hope you don’t mind?”

“I-” For the first time since she’d known him, Bastion seemed speechless. He turned to Professor Sartyr for confirmation, and at his nod turned back to her in bewilderment. “I, ah...a-alright. Alright!” He finally laughed, shaking his head. “I suppose this is happening now, isn’t it? Well, I can’t simply duel you as is. You know every strategy I might use with this deck.”

“‘This’ deck? Are we finally gonna see one of Bastion’s Misawa’s top-secret prototype decks today?”

In response, Bastion unclasped his blazer and pushed it open, revealing – oh god she’d never stop laughing. Under his blazer, Bastion was wearing a black vest with six deck pouches on it, and as if this wasn’t the most hilarious thing in the world he opened one, removed the deck, replaced it with his original deck, then clasped his blazer back up. Melodia was still laughing as he loaded the deck into his Duel Disk, and he gave her a curiously amused look. It just made her laugh more, because he clearly knew _exactly_ how dumb it was if he was making that face.

She was still giggling when she took her spot opposite him, waiting for Professor Sartyr to signal the start of the duel. Once she’d gotten a hold of herself, he did so, and they drew their hands.

Among her cards were Lunar Rose and a spell called Holy Night. With those, she could add an angel-type monster to her hand, and Midnight Angel could come out on the first turn.

Oh, this was going to be _fun._

* * *

“...and the damage is dealt to you directly!”

Melodia winced as her life points fell to 0, Moon Fairy being no match the effect of Bastion’s trap. Still, she’d put up the best fight she could – if she’d been able to last that one turn more, she could’ve taken out Bastion’s remaining 50 life points, she was sure of it.

Their friends let out a wave of cheers, and Melodia tried to smile. The duel had easily been the most exciting thing that had happened to her in a while, but...her loss still meant that Bastion would be leaving Ra. He was too good, that was clear. That hurt a lot more than she’d thought it would. As she and Bastion shook hands, she tried to hide her tears. “I almost had you there, huh? That deck’s pretty intense.”

“Yes, well, it clearly still needs a lot of work if you came that close to beating it. That being said, that was the most amazing duel that I think I’ve ever had.” Bastion’s smile was warm, and it made her want to cry even more. “You’ve come a long way for someone who doesn’t want to go pro.”

She chuckled. “I had a good teacher,” she reminded him. Professor Sartyr joined them on the stage to give Bastion his congratulations and reluctant farewells, and she turned away, wanting to pretend it wasn’t happening.

“Oh, I think there’s been a misunderstanding. I currently have no intention to move to the Obelisk dorm.”

Melodia whirled on the spot to stare at Bastion, who was still smiling, even in the face of Professor Sartyr’s bewilderment. “You-You don’t?” he spluttered.

“No, absolutely not! If I can still come that close to a loss, I’ve still got a lot of work to do before I’ll think of myself as ready.” Bastion turned to her, and while he still smiled, it was now apologetic. “I do feel bad, after how you stepped up to ensure I had this duel. But I can’t very well leave Ra’s angel when I can only barely defeat her.”

She knew she was shaking, but she couldn’t manage to stop it. “Y...You’re staying?”

“If that’s alright.”

Professor Sartyr confirmed that yes, Bastion did have the choice, though he clearly didn’t understand why Bastion was _making_ such a choice. The others quickly made their way to the stage, bombarding Bastion with questions. Melodia watched from the outside, rubbing at her eyes to get rid of the tears before someone noticed. The problem was they just seemed to keep building up.

 _Bastion’s not leaving._ It took the knot out of her gut, and unlike last night, she knew why. She was tired of people leaving. She didn’t want to go through that anymore.

Now she had more time to learn how to be okay – or at least better – with it before it inevitably happened.

The only person not in the group surrounding Bastion walked over to her. He offered his hand. “Nice work.”

Only a little hesitantly, Melodia shook Zane’s hand. “Thanks.”

It was only a matter of seconds before the other descended on her, giving her just as much praise as Bastion had gotten. Given how emotional she always was when this sort of thing happened, the only ones that were startled when she began to cry in earnest were Zane and Professor Sartyr. The rest of them smothered her in hugs; even Bastion, even Beauregard.

She was still a little unsure about the definition of the word, but she really was starting to understand what brothers were supposed to be. She hoped that Lance...no, he definitely knew.

For the first time in almost ten years, Melodia was looking forward to seeing him the next day. She had so much to tell him, and it wasn’t just about their problems. She wanted to tell him why she was at Duel Academy, the difference she was making for her friends, the fact that she could duel and Aniko was far from her mind as she did it. Melodia wanted to tell him everything.

Something told her that this time, just like he’d been trying with their awkward calls since school started, he’d listen.


	10. Chapter 8: I Know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a little different than what we've had before, and I hope to do more like it in the future.

 

“She hates me.”

“Yeah?”

“She hates me, she wants nothing to do with me, she’s going to cut all ties with me and I deserve it.”

“I see.”

“A week. It only took her a week to decide that. I was smothering her, acting like nothing happened, and she wasn’t telling me that it hurt so I didn’t know-”

“Uh-huh.”

“Hunk, are you even listening to me?”

“Totally.”

Lance shot an accusing glance at his teammate, who was currently adjusting the bolts on Vince’s desk chair. “What did I just say?”

“Something something...not Voltron related.”

“...You’re doing the thing where you mimic how I treated Dia, aren’t you?”

“It sucks, doesn’t it?”

“I _know_ that, Hunk! That’s why I’m trying to _fix_ it!”

With a heavy sigh, Hunk looked up from the chair, an eyebrow raised. “Lance. Buddy. I keep _telling_ you that you’re making this too complicated. You want to listen? Then _listen._ It’s that simple. You wanna hear what she has to say, then that’s all there is to it, doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad. Let her say her piece, that’s all she’s ever wanted. That’s why we wrote that song.”

Curling up on himself slightly at his place against the wall, Lance grumbled, “Yeah, the song I never knew existed ‘til last Friday. There’s a big difference between two days and _five years,_ Hunk.”

“You don’t say.”

“If you start mimicking jerk-me again I’m going to shoot you.”

“If you shoot me I won’t be able to fix your car.”

“I can fix my car.”

“Lance, with all due respect, you don’t know shit about cars.”

“...Pidge can fix my car.”

Hunk snorted and went back to working on the chair. Realizing that he was only going to get snark from him – which was ironically what he usually _gave_ Hunk – Lance removed himself from the hangar, rubbing his chin as he tried to find something to distract himself with. The feeling of stubble startled him. Right, he’d been neglecting that this past week. Again. He was really bad at the whole ‘not falling apart after meaningful two-minute conversations with my baby sister’ thing.

Okay. That was a start. Clean himself up, do some checks on Red, work from there. He could do that.

Sunday wasn’t usually his clean-up day, but Lance could change that one time. He shaved, he showered, he did his laundry since Pidge was off visiting his brother and wasn’t here to yell at him for taking his day. He spent some time beating up holo-Lotor, because that always made him feel better. Lotor was simple – an enemy, no strings attached.

Somehow he wound up in his room staring at an old family photo. Again. For the third time that morning. When he realized it, he set it down and fell backward onto his bed with a groan. _Why can’t things be like that again? Before Voltron, before jerk-face brothers, just three-year-old Dia and her big smile that I haven’t seen in I don’t know how long._

He covered his face with his hands. He knew exactly why it couldn’t be like that again. Because he was an idiot. He should have _been there_ for her, but no, he thought that it was a good idea to push her away. Aniko didn’t want her, the Lions didn’t want her, and Lance ‘The Greatest Moron’ Farstrike had to go in and follow like the galaxy’s dumbest conga-line member. For _five years._

Before he could fall into another mental self-chastisement, Lance’s computer beeped, signaling an email. No matter who it was from, he gave a silent thanks before pulling himself off the bed and over to his desk.

 _Lance,_  
_Remember how I said I thought I found something?_ _I’m pretty sure this isn’t just something._  
_(It’s a little sad and a little weird that this is actually my regular pub and it only hit me because you mentioned him.)_  
_-Sylvia  
_ _[Maps Link:_ _Mystic Crystals Pub and Grill location #27]_

A pub? This was either an attempt to get him to go drinking or an actual lead, and he genuinely didn’t know which, coming from her. Lance clicked the link, letting it open a new tab. The website it brought him to was well-made and organized, the page he was on neatly describing location #27 in some city in Germany. There were photos of the establishment and its staff, everything looking tidy but welcoming, he noted. It had an earthy feeling, quartz crystals the main theme and decoration. The only strange thing he noticed was the piano that was set up on the stage, some kind of Balton-Earth hybrid contraption that only barely fit the theme. His cursor shifted when he moved over the photo, revealing a caption.

_This piano was given as a donation and allows even those with electric overcharge to take a seat and relax! It absorbs even the chaotic energy our regular pianist, Kian Brooks, lets off when he comes in once a week._

Lance frowned, scrolling a bit more-

As the next photo came into view, he froze. All he saw of the pianist was the top half of his face, but he’d know that mussed-up black fringe and those brown eyes anywhere. Just to be sure, he scrolled the full way down, letting the caption show.

_Kian Brooks, our regular pianist. Don’t let the electric sparks and the scowl scare you, he’s quite harmless so long as he stays near his piano! We hired him three years ago and never looked back._

Lance had been looking at this face for 26 years, and there was no mistaking it. Hiding behind the low ponytail and the glasses was his brother – the rudest, most obnoxious person he had _ever_ met, smiling awkwardly at the camera as he sat posed at his funky-looking piano, white lightning sparks blurred but clearly dancing between him and it.

What the _hell_ was hate-the-world, dueling’s-all-that-matters Aniko doing playing piano at a pub and grill?

Oh, good, there was a quote from ‘Kian’ below the photo.

 _‘I had to give up music when my powers appeared about ten_ _years ago,_ _I just started scorching everything. I was visiting Mystic Crystals a few years ago when I noticed their funky piano being played, just sucking in the electric charge like it didn’t matter. They let me give it a try and I got to play for the first time in almost seven years. I remember crying. Suddenly it felt like I could live again, like I could reach out and try to put things back together. I owe this funky machine, and Mystic Crystals, everything.’_

...Wait.

Wait, no, hold on. Ten years ago. That was when Aniko had changed. Electric powers? He didn’t remember seeing those. He remembered coming home from one of his earliest missions with the Force after the school year – Aniko’s room was totally barren of his instruments, replaced with Duel Monsters cards and a brand new Duel Disk. He played livestreams of duels instead of concerts on his computer. The one time Lance had asked him what happened, it looked like Aniko was about to kill him.

Aniko _had_ chilled out slightly three years ago. It was so faint no one had really noticed, but Lance did. Lance had been keeping an eye on his brother through those seven years, watching him bounce around from tournament to tournament, pro-duelist conferences in almost every country. Three years ago, though...Lance had been distracted. Lance had slipped his watch, dealing with a life-or-death witness protection case, and by the time he started catching up with Aniko’s appearances, his little brother had seemed less violent, less destructive.

Damn it, he _knew_ he shouldn’t have brushed it off.

Scrolling through the page some more, Lance found a link to Kian’s business profile, hosted by the pub’s site. He seemed to hire himself out for low-key parties twice a month, on top of his weekly gig at Mystic Crystals. There was a photo album for every one. Lance couldn’t even count how many it added up to. He clicked through a few of them – in every picture, ‘Kian’ looked calm, content, like there was nowhere else in the world he’d rather be.

In every picture, he was perched at another, smaller version of the shock-absorber piano from the pub.

When Lance became increasingly uncomfortable with his brother’s gentle and/or awkward smiles, smiles he hadn’t seen in ten years, he fled to the bio section.

 _Kian Brooks, 26_  
_Pianist and singer_  
_Ten years ago I lost music, and three years ago I found it again along with the other love of my life, the very person who designed the piano that allows me to play._  
_(‘nica, if you’re reading this, yes I’m replacing the coils every three and a half weeks. I love you too.)_  
_The year Earth made first contact, I was about_ _5_ _years old. I remember that day. The delegation from Garu brought with them the key to humans rediscovering magic they’d lost thousands of years ago. A small minority of people soon found themselves waking up with new abilities, little things like levitating bits of metal or conjuring_ _bubbles. I was given the gift of music. Summoning it, singing it, playing any instrument you could name. I loved it. I showed off every chance I could get._  
_Eleven years later, I was hit with another power. Chaotic electric discharge. My guitar fell to pieces in my hands. My keyboard fried when I tried to play so much as a chord. I almost hurt my sister._  
_I gave up the greatest thing I’d ever known that day. It took me seven years to get it back._  
_I heard about this pub in Germany that supposedly had a piano that people like me could play. Obviously, I went to check it out. I’d barely tapped out a few notes before I had a spike, and that piano sucked it all right up before I could even blink. I played a full song. Three. Six. They couldn’t get me away from it. I played seven songs that night, one for each year I’d missed, and my music magic came out so strong it was like I’d never left it behind. I couldn’t tell you what I played, I was too busy bawling my eyes out and_ _so_ _was the rest of the place._ _(_ _Sorry about that._ _)_  
_The next day, as soon as it opened, I was back in that building, and there tuning up the instrument that meant the world to me was...well, my world. My high school girlfriend, who took one look at me and said, I kid you not, “It took me seven_ _damn_ _years to figure out how to build this fucking thing for you, so you sit your ass down and play it right the fuck now.”_  
_Thanks to her I was hired by the end of the week._ _She had another piano built for me before the end of the year.  
_ _To anyone whose powers make their lives harder instead of simpler, I know that pain. I understand what you’re going through. Come down and talk to me about it. We’ll have a drink, I’ll play some magic song I pulled out of the air that fits your problems just right, and we’ll get you back on track._

There was a comments section below. It was flooded, hundreds of thank yous and praise and how Kian had saved them from this or that or the worst. Every time Lance tried to load older ones, it buffered and a new one popped in.

It was incredible. He’d never seen anything like it before. And this was supposed to be Aniko? Sure, he remembered the music magic, Aniko wouldn’t shut up about it. For the first five years of Dia’s life, he’d insisted on being the one to sing her to sleep, to play her a lullaby, anything and everything musical. She _adored_ it, with all her heart, almost as much as she adored him.

Then high school had hit.

_I almost hurt my sister._

Lance had never heard about that. Did Mom even know? Did Dia remember?

Dia.

Electricity.

_“It started when I first tried to duel. Just before the Lions started hating me. I’ve been talking to someone about it, and she thinks it’s some kind of curse.”_

Dia had stayed with Aniko for a week that year. Lance had a mission and Rosalie was visiting friends. It was the only time she’d ever been in Aniko’s house for more than a day, because Lance had already wanted to keep her from him. When he’d gone to pick her up after the week was over, she’d looked dizzy and shaken and would barely speak to him. Red Lion complained about her the whole ride back to Arus, though he hadn’t been bonded enough with it back then to know what it was saying.

Had Aniko...had these powers…

Had Dia somehow gotten them from him, seven years ago?

Did she know they were from him?

Lance leaned back in his chair, thoughts spinning. According to this, Aniko – because this _was_ Aniko, he had no doubts about that face – had gained this electric curse ten years ago, coinciding with his change in attitude and obsession with Duel Monsters. About three years later, Dia had stayed with him once, soon lost all interest in the game, and started curling in on herself. Half a year after that it was the Lions, who had since that visit become strangely displeased with her presence, that started flat out refusing to give her rides. Black had almost left her stranded in a desert.

And he hadn’t noticed her spiral into chaos at all, because he was too focused on keeping Aniko away from her.

_Way to fucking go, Lance._

No. No, he wasn’t doing that right now, he’d found something. He’d _actually_ found something. His paranoid request to keep an eye out for Aniko in Germany due to reported street sightings had come up with almost all the answers he’d been trying to find for a decade. Aniko’s change was in tune with his electric powers and he’d been trying in secret to fix his shit. This old girlfriend of his – god, he’d had a girlfriend in high school? Little brat never told him anything – had spent years trying to make something to help him, and if the decrease in violence since then was any indication, it was working.

If this was all accurate...then Aniko knew exactly how dangerous he was, and he was trying the only thing he could to get himself under control.

So many things shouted during their countless fights over the past ten years suddenly made so much sense.

Lance skimmed through the page again to make sure there was nothing else. When he was done, he stood up, hoping movement would help him think.

Aniko knew something was wrong with him, and somehow it tied to dueling. Music helped calm him. His old girlfriend, or rather his _current_ girlfriend, had stuck with him upon reconnecting and was probably helping too.

Aniko’s change had happened in high school. Dia was in high school.

High school for the same sport that Aniko had been sucked into. With the same curse he had.

_“I’ve been talking to someone about it, and she thinks it’s some kind of curse. That the Lions might be blocking me out so that I don’t hurt them...She said if I can figure out how to channel it positively, the Lions might not see me as a threat anymore.”_

The Lions had known. Dia’s mentor, Angela Rosenberg, knew. Maybe not about Aniko, but she knew enough about this curse to get Dia using it to cleanse dark energy _and_ absorbing a huge power surge. What was it Dia had said? They’d altered it? Maybe it could be done for Aniko too. They could help him.

Stopping his pacing and returning to his desk, Lance pulled up the address for the Mystic Crystals pub and grill and copied it into his Voltcom. Before he told Dia anything about this, he’d go investigate himself and make sure it was safe. There was no way he was taking her into a potentially dangerous situation. Hopefully Aniko would be too mellowed out by his music to remember how much he hated Lance.

Wait, _did_ Aniko hate him? Or was that this curse? Great, he had no idea. Another question to add to the mental conspiracy corkboard.

Whatever. That corkboard had ten years of theories and speculation being torn down and replaced with two sticky notes labeled ‘pub and grill’ and ‘Kian Brooks’, connected with a red string. ‘Dia’, ‘Angela Rosenberg’, ‘actual feelings’, and ‘high school girlfriend’ joined the fray, all their strings joining together at one note in the center: ‘cursed ten years ago’.

His brother wasn’t actually his enemy? He’d make sure it stayed that way. He was tired of most of his family hating him and/or being jackasses.

For now, Lance went to go switch his laundry.

* * *

“Ma’creyt, for the last time, you’re not stepping out of this Lion until you shift.”

“Oh, come _on,_ you’re acting like this school’s never seen a Bezzakian before!”

“That’s because it hasn’t. Shift. Now.”

The humanoid teenager in Red Lion’s second seat gave an exasperated groan, but after a few seconds he saw a light shine in his peripheral vision. He counted the time – nine seconds. One short of a full shift, and this was exactly the reason he’d checked that information. “All of it.”

“If these guys can’t handle some floppy ears and coro then-”

“You are not walking out there with giraffe ears and horns!”

“You keep saying that and I still don’t know what a ‘jeer-aff’ is!”

“Something that doesn’t get to go to Duel Academy!”

Another groan, this one barely short of an angry shriek, prefaced another glow that lasted a single second. When Lance turned around, the now-human Ma’creyt Se’a glared at him from where she was slumped in the seat, her arms crossed and her mouth pushed into a half-pout, half-scowl.

 _“Futa,”_ she spat.

“I’ll be sure to ask your mother what that means.”

Ma’creyt bristled, and refused to look at him as she stood. “Just let me on the _stupid_ island.”

Lance told Red to open the cockpit door, and the exchange student disappeared through it. Moments later he saw her running off, making her escorts chase after her. He gave a sigh and briefly fell forward to drop his head on the controls. _Teenagers._

At least she wasn’t in Dia’s year. That was a blessing he would take with open arms. That, and now that she was on the island, she was no longer his problem. He hoped Hunk, who was transferring the second-year Duel Academy student to Ma’creyt’s school on Bezzek, was having a better morning.

Lance pulled Red back into the air, heading off to do the rounds in the waters around the island for the next three-ish hours. If he had his times right, and he was only half sure he did, by the time he returned to call Dia out she’d be somewhere between second and third period. Awake enough to say whatever she needed to say, but late enough that no one was likely to put together it was him who called her.

It was the most anxious and boring three hours of his entire year. Maybe two. He almost wished he’d brought something to pass the time with. When his Voltcom signaled it was time to move back to the island, he was more than happy to do so, flicking on the comm channel to Sheppard as he went. “Hey Chancellor, in about ten minutes would you have someone tell Dia that her brother’s here to see her?”

Sheppard appeared surprised. “Yes, of course. Is everything alright?”

“Oh yeah, we’re fine. She just asked me to come down and talk next time I was over, that’s all.” Lance tried to keep his tone light, as if nothing was wrong, as if there wasn’t a rolling ball of guilt living in his gut. “Tell her I’ll be by her dorm.”

The man agreed, and after giving his thanks Lance shut off the channel. He directed Red over to the volcano, planning on letting the Lion take a magma bath to distract it. Even if Dia said her curse being altered might help the Lions get used to her, he didn’t want to risk anything happening today.

Extracting a promise from Red that after its bath it would circle the island alone until further notice, Lance dropped from the cockpit as they flew over the yellow dorm. A hard-light parachute came from his Voltcom, backpack and all, giving him a soft and safe landing behind the building. Once on the ground he settled in, waiting once more.

The thoughts he’d been managing to handle all morning were hitting him full force now. What did she want to say? Was it good? Bad? Had something else happened? Was she homesick? Was she okay? There had been no hint in her one-sentence email, and it just made him want to tear out his hair in frustration. Last he knew she wanted him to leave her alone. A week later she was checking in on him, and he’d figured that was normal, she was reaching out on her own terms. He could work with that. Then she’d emailed him again the next night, long after she should have been asleep, and all she’d said was ‘can I patrol with you?’. What did that _mean?_

Shit, she didn’t actually want to patrol, did she? He thought it was just an awkward way of asking to talk. Maybe he still had time to call Red back-

Before he could so much as lift his arm, footsteps entered his hearing range. He turned, the ball in his gut making him feel queasy as Dia came into view. Had it really been long enough for her to get called out of class already? _And_ walk over here? Time really flew when you were questioning everything.

She hesitated upon seeing him, which he’d fully expected. He kept his mouth shut at first, wanting to give her the chance to—wait, why was she running?

With sparks dancing at her feet, moving her faster than he felt was normal, Dia nearly crashed into him before she managed to skid to a stop. Where she’d stepped, the grass shot up about half a foot, leaving strange little patches of tangled greenery in her wake. With a visible shift in her expression, she stopped the sparks, her hand twitching like she was turning a faucet. At first she didn’t look him in the eye, gazing off instead at the forest behind him while she composed herself.

“I, uh.” Two syllables was all she managed. She swallowed, clearly not sure what to say. That and the shaking drove Lance to the decision to go first after all.

“Are you okay?”

“...C-Could we, um...could we move to the cursed dorm?” Dia _was_ jittery, but it didn’t look like it was just from nerves. “I uh, absorbed a bit of static earlier, I-I can’t really get it to settle, so-”

“Yeah, of course. Go on. I’ll catch up.”

Dia bolted off in the opposite direction, more literally than metaphorically. The trail of light left by her feet as she ran reminded him of Daniel’s Voltcom abilities. He took off after her, nowhere near able to keep up. The only thing that told him where she went were the patches of tall grass she was leaving behind.

At a jog, it took him ten minutes to reach the dorm she was supposed to be cleansing. She was already past the fence, letting off waves of white energy toward the abandoned building, controlled pulses that only barely looked reminiscent of the lightning that ‘Kian’ let off in his photos. How long would that last, though?

Remembering that her mentor had said anything inside the fence was in the ‘dark’ zone, Lance held back a bit, letting Dia discharge without interference. It only took about half a minute, then she was carefully climbing over the sign meant to bar entry, the shaking and sparks gone. She breathed a few times, slowly, before walking over to him.

“Better?” he asked. She nodded.

“It was a big static,” she said. “Angela was fiddling with the power station at dawn and...needed grounding when she came back to the dorm for breakfast.” Dia gave an exasperated sigh, simultaneously similar and completely different to the ones Ma’creyt had let out a few hours before. This one wasn’t anger, more worried. “Not that she noticed, of course, one second she’s clapping me on the shoulder and the next I’ve exploded the light bulb above us.”

Lance raised an eyebrow, not sure if he was amused or concerned. “Does this happen often?”

“Thankfully no, it’s a first. I think she was just antsy about the exchange student. She tinkers when she’s nervous.” Melodia hugged herself, and maybe Lance was imagining it, but it looked like her right arm had a glow about it. Something under her sleeve? “I had Abigail talk to her. Uh, her daughter. I think it’s...”

She trailed off, her gaze locking on to something behind him. He moved to turn, but in an instant she snapped, “Don’t move.” Confused and concerned, he obliged.

Ignoring her own advice, Dia moved toward him, her arms dropping back to her sides. Yeah, the right one was definitely glowing. As she passed, she murmured, “Don’t provoke her. Stay behind me.”

What the hell?

Dia didn’t object to him turning around, but she planted herself in front of him like a human shield. One arm reached back to pat her deck pouch twice, where it was attached to her side. There was a shimmer, but that was it. “Midnight Angel, get Abigail, vines, and coat,” she said softly. The burst of wind that followed must have been the spirit taking off. Vines? Coat? What was-

Angela had just emerged from the forest, twitching and sparking. Below the teacher’s blazer she wore, her right arm was glowing too, but it was more white-red than the white-green Dia’s seemed to be. When she noticed Dia, she halted, her eyes wide. Something didn’t look right about them.

“This is why I told you to stay in your room,” Dia told her evenly. “Just stay put, okay? Abigail’s coming.” When Angela nodded, Dia glanced over her shoulder to Lance. She looked focused, ready to fight, something he’d never even once seen on her face before. “Sorry. This can’t wait.”

Lance dumbly nodded, his mental-conspiracy-board-self going nuts. The white bursts of energy Angela was letting off looked just like Kian/Aniko’s erratic lightning. She’d gone to Balto for college. The piano was a hybrid of Balton and human tech. Was Angela-?

“How long has she done this?” he asked quietly. “Ballpark it.”

“What? Uh, ten years, why?”

“Oh, no, I just figured out a mystery I’ve been trying to solve for ages in about two days now, it’s fine. You’re not going to absorb _that,_ are you?”

“Only if I have to. She’s not supposed to spike like this, fiddling with the power must’ve triggered it. If she loses control before Abigail gets here, I won’t have a choice.”

“I have a lot of questions, Dia.”

“Yeah, that happens here.” She turned her attention back to Angela, calling out gently. “Who am I talking to right now?”

Lance kept quiet, though he really wanted to know what kind of question that was. Angela, however, was taking it very seriously, her expression morphing from panic to contained panic with concentration. “...Angela,” she said after a moment, sounding uncertain.

“Okay, Angela, just stay there, don’t get closer to the dorm. It’s good you isolated yourself, but you really should’ve gotten your coat first.”

“...I didn’t?” Angela looked at her arms, then blinked at them in surprise. “Oh...”

“It’s okay. It happens. You’ll be fine.”

“...Why is Lance here?” The woman was now looking at him, concentration gone and panic replaced by plain fear. Wait, she was scared of him? He made a quick attempt to make his own expression calm, hoping he hadn’t been glaring. If she was unstable like this, he didn’t want to make things worse. He did enough of that with Aniko.

Dia was comforting her mentor, her arms low, keeping her voice steady but soft. “I asked him to come talk next time he patrolled.”

“About what?” Angela’s voice caught, her fear rising.

“Family stuff, that’s all.”

“You’re lying.”

“No-”

Angela took a step back, the energy around her growing. Lance could hear it now, a buzzing crackle across the distance. What looked like tails separated from her hair, dull in color but quick in motion, trying to rip off the metal accessory she used as a hairband. “You’re _lying,”_ she repeated angrily.

Lance was ready to get a shield from his Voltcom, but Dia hadn’t even budged. “Why would I? I’ve got nothing to gain from it.”

“I don’t know, but you are! There’s something!”

This was getting out of hand. If it continued, Dia would take a blast, and then what? Would Angela run off or keep going? Would he have to hold Dia back until her friend showed up with these vines and coat? Would those even help her?

“Let me talk to her,” he whispered. Dia didn’t look at him, likely not wanting to let Angela out of her sight, but she shook her head. “Dia, listen, we just have to stall, right? Keep her calm? Let me try.”

Not taking her eyes off Angela, who was more and more watching them like they would attack her at any second, Dia didn’t answer for five seconds. “If she blasts, I take it and you pin my arms,” she finally said. “My self-preservation won’t let me zap you if there’s a risk of hurting myself.”

God, how could she say that so easily? “Fine.”

“Ask her who she is. Trust me. And don’t move!”

“You’re the boss.” Lance made sure his arms were at his sides and tried to compose himself again. This wasn’t the time to freak out. This situation needed a cool head, patience, and literally everything he wasn’t. Thank god Allura had been making him think before he acted more.

He barely had to breathe to get Angela’s attention. Mimicking Dia’s earlier confusing question, he asked, “Who am I speaking to?”

The answer was different this time. Sharp, cold, distrustful. “Demonica. What do you want.”

“Demonica. Angela. Was that on purpose?”

Her eyes were definitely different now. He couldn’t tell exactly how with the distance, but it gave him a bad feeling. “Yeah,” she said after a pause. “I thought the joke would help.”

“Hey, I like it. Hope it does its job. So, Demonica, I was wondering if I could ask one question besides this one I’m asking right now?” Lance kept the air of the conversation casual, trying to keep her calm like Dia wanted. When Angela... _Demonica_ nodded, he hoped he wasn’t about to royally screw this up. “Do people call you ‘nica? I read a bio about a pianist yesterday, and he mentioned a ‘nica.”

The buzzing crackle flared into the sound of thunder, matching a rise in the energy around her. “Yesterday?” she repeated warily. “Only yesterday?”

“Yeah, some guy in Germany. You know him?”

“...I made his pianos.” She was watching him now, not angry, just cautious. This wasn’t at all the same person he’d talked to the day he’d flown down to pulverize the Garcias. Was this an effect of the curse? If so, it would explain Aniko and Kian, too.

Lance nodded, putting a smile on his face. “I had a feeling. They looked pretty impressive. Must’ve taken a long time. Seven years, right?”

“Six. I started working on the first one the same year I started college.” Her gaze flicked away from him, just for a second. Why was she looking at Dia? Wait, that was a stupid question. She likely didn’t want Dia to know. Wait, did she know that Dia might’ve gotten the curse from Aniko? Lance had _so_ many questions. But if it kept Demonica calm, he’d play along and wouldn’t ask them just yet.

“You think he’d be okay if I went to listen? Don’t wanna ruin his mojo, Lance Farstrike barging in on his scene.”

“Why do you want to?” The retort came in a snap, energy starting to gather in her hands. Lance shut down the urge to raise his shield. Dia had said not to provoke her. Even now she was glaring back at him, likely about to tell him to shut up. _Think fast, Lance._

“I just wanna hear him play. Page says his music’s got some magic in it, I’d love to know what it’s like. See the instrument that lets him do it. And thank you, by the way, for making it!”

Though the lightning around her hadn’t faded at all, it wasn’t as loud and it wasn’t as volatile now. Demonica’s suspicious glare prefaced the sharp, “Why are you thanking me for helping someone you don’t know?”

Good question. Answer? Any time now, Lance. “Because with that, we know...we know that people like him have a chance to fight back, right? People like Dia.” He felt more than saw her whirl around to stare at him, and as much as it hurt, he ignored her. Demonica’s eyes snapped toward the younger girl, then back up at him, silently warning him to choose his words carefully. “Electric powers, or the curse Dia has, they can ruin a lot of things. An instrument that can absorb all that, though, that gives me so much hope. For him, for Dia, for you! Think of what other advances could come from that, things that don’t fry or break at an accidental surge. Pidge has been trying to figure that out for as long as I’ve known him! You’ve hit something amazing, and it could help countless people.”

The hair-tails, which had been snapping about wildly this whole time, were starting to slow. They’d managed to push the metal band down halfway before giving up, and now they were spreading out in front of Demonica like a living shield, their length and layers growing to do so more effectively. “Keep going,” Dia urged quietly, probably shoving down her confusion in the process. “It’s working.”

He didn’t know how she knew that, but he took her word for it. “Demonica, listen, if you want – and I mean _only_ if you want – I can set you up a meeting with Pidge. You two can take a long look at the things that make these pianos work, find a way to transfer it into other machines. I don’t know this stuff, I don’t know how long it would take, but you didn’t give up for six years, and you made a second one too, yeah? I know you could do it.” He did, he really did. Sure, he was pulling this out of his ass, but he meant every word. She’d given his siblings hope for a problem he didn’t even know they’d had, she’d looked out for them while he was busy hurting them and himself. He owed her more than he could ever repay. “What do you say? Once your daughter gets here, once I head back to Arus after patrolling, I’ll talk to Pidge. Tomorrow at the latest.”

How much longer? He wasn’t sure how much more he could come up with. At this point she was just staring at him, and he had no idea what the expression on her face was. He was usually good at reading people. She was nothing but a blank mask surrounded by sharp light.

For a split second, she looked at Dia again. Back at him. A few seconds later, back at Dia, then back at him, and then in that cold voice that was so much like Aniko’s she asked, “Why do you care?”

He fumbled, about to say ‘because he’s my brother’, then remembered Dia was another factor in the equation. Demonica/Angela was the one who knew Aniko, not him, and she might be the only way to get through to him at this point. Meanwhile, Dia was just as unstable as the both of them, at least theoretically. Lance hoped he’d never have to know the answer.

“You know why I care,” he came up with. “Because I’ve been an asshole and didn’t see how much they were hurting.”

That was clearly the wrong thing to say. In an instant, the hair-tails went into a frenzy, the metal band breaking into pieces and scattering at Demonica’s feet. Her energy thundered again, her mouth curled into a snarl, and she bellowed with rage, “Why does it take people breaking down in front of you for you to realize how much of a _fuck-up_ you are?!”

 _Shit,_ he thought, really hoping that magic coat and vines would get here within the next five seconds.

“ _You_ did this!” she roared. “He begged me because _you_ made him think he needed to be a hero! Because _your_ ego would never shut up! Why is pain the only thing you understand?! You only listened to Dia because she felt she needed to defend her actions from a brother that treated her like _shit!_ Because you thought that was the way to protect her, to protect _him!_ News flash, asshole, none of this would’ve happened if you’d never told Aniko that helping people was so great! I never would’ve invited him if you hadn’t put the stupid idea in his head! _It’s your fault I wound up taking him away from you!”_

“What?”

One word, barely audible, was all it took to break Demonica’s rant. She jerked back, her eyes wide, panic taking over every motion. The energy in her hands fizzled out as she clapped them across her mouth. The cold wrongness burned in her terrified eyes. She started shaking her head, hair-tails streaming behind her like flags in a breeze, and the lightning built up around her was jumping into the trees behind her.

Something burned his arm, and when he broke his eyes away from Demonica, he saw very similar white lightning sparking out from his sister. _No, no, no-_

Before he could do _anything,_ she thrust her arms out, soft green overtaking the sharp white, a wobbly, wordless tune spilling from her mouth. It sounded like she was trying not to cry.

The green surrounded the clearing, morphing into black, and the next thing he knew it was the _only_ thing he knew. The dorm was gone, Dia was gone, Demonica was gone.

He’d expected zap-to-knock-out to hurt more. It was surprisingly painless. Hopefully telling Dia that when he woke up would help her feel less horrible. Hopefully there were enough magic vines to help both her and Demonica. He wasn’t even going to try to understand the coat anymore. He just wanted to know that Dia would be okay.

Apart from the blackness, the only thing around him was the sound of a guitar. Huh. He’d never had a soundtrack from unconsciousness before. Then again, he’d never been knocked out by cursed lightning before, either. Actually, he’d also never been aware of being unconscious before…

Oh, god, he had better not be dead. Dia would never be able to forgive herself.

As he thought that lovely bit, the guitar cut out, leaving him in silence. Something staticky came into view not too far away.

Just as he got used to the quiet, it was gone, replaced with, of all things, a song.

Sung by a voice he could’ve sworn was Dia’s.

_“Please”_

_“Don't tell me any more”_

_“There's a weight in your eyes”_

_“And it weighs on my heart”_

The static cleared, revealing Dia. She was absolutely tiny, looking five years old, standing there teary-eyed with a ribbon woven into her braid like she’d always begged them to do every day. Lance tried to run over to her, but he couldn’t move. He suddenly wasn’t even sure he had a body.

_“Where have the children gone?”_

_“We were innocent once”_

_“But that was so long ago”_

It wasn’t just little Dia now. He was there, 20 years old, wearing the somewhat clunky original Voltron uniform he’d only been given a year before, the helmet tucked under his arm. At Dia’s other side was Aniko, 16, wearing his school uniform and holding a collection of sheet music. A girl with a messy pink bob and bright green eyes, wearing the same uniform, was clinging to him cheerfully – Angela. The four of them flickered with static, and when the song’s phrase ended, they vanished like smoke.

_“Have we lost our way back home?”_

_“We have made mistakes I know”_

_“I know”_

All Lance saw was his younger self’s back, walking away from a ground covered in thorns. His heart wrenched, and he wanted to throttle himself, make himself turn around and fight through the thorns, because he had the burning feeling that it was the curse that had taken not only his brother, but his brother’s girlfriend, and now his sister too.

Why hadn’t he seen it? Demonica was right – why had he only noticed their pain when they were falling to pieces right in his face?

_“Don't tell me of better days”_

_“There's a memory I have”_

_“Could be something I read”_

His stupid self was gone, along with the thorns, replaced by tiny Dia. Her image was flickering just like before, static blurring her form. She held what looked like a photo album, the large book appearing huge in her grasp. He couldn’t see what she was looking at, or even make out the expression on her face.

_“Of laughter and cheap guitars”_

_“In a house full of friends”_

_“Could've been one of ours”_

Suddenly he was the one holding the album, and pictures half-obscured by moving static filled the pages. Memories that must have been Dia’s were played out in each one, some with him, some with Aniko, one even with Angela and a girl with green hair that he’d never seen before.

Dia looked so happy.

_“We stayed up late, we loved the stars”_

There the three of them were, out in the backyard late at night. Aniko was using a hairbrush as a blaster, chasing Lance with an obnoxious scream. Dia was running around herself, whacking both of them with her favorite toy at the time, a plush lion, because she just _had_ to have a kitty like her big brother.

It looked so faint. Static and white spots were all over it. Lance found he could barely recall that night himself.

_“Can't remember the rest”_

_“Just a few parts”_

The photo album disintegrated in his hands, taking away the precious memories, and something deep inside him broke along with it.

_“Have we lost our way back home?”_

_“We have made mistakes I know”_

_“I know”_

This time, the back he saw belonged to Aniko, his hands thrust into his school uniform’s pockets as he walked into the forest of thorns. Angela chased after him, and as she grabbed his arm and tried to pull him back, they were both swallowed up by the dark.

_“I think they lost something that they miss”_

They were all there, now their present ages. Aniko and Angela, swallowed by thorns. The girl with green hair was lying on the ground, still a teenager in her high school uniform, her figure obscured by static. Dia, hugging herself, thorns covering her feet and white lightning dancing around her.

Lance, his back to it all, his face blacked out because how could Dia know what he thought if he never bothered to talk to her about anything that wasn’t Voltron?

_“I wanna find that book”_

_“Dust it off and read it again”_

The photo album, scorched and broken, landed in Dia’s hands. The energy around her bit at it, and the thorns at her feet wriggled as if trying to reach up to grab it, but Dia held on desperately, tears streaming down her face, and another part of Lance broke.

_“There was hope in the end”_

A rainbow of light exploded from the album, bursting into the black sky like an aurora. It curved down like water in a fountain, multicolored mists revealing staticky moments that Lance realized with a start were Dia’s own memories of her brothers.

Aniko stealing her tricycle when she was four, trying to ride away on it as he let out the most ridiculous scream with Dia chasing behind him, looking like she couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry. Lance was in the background, collapsed on the driveway because for the life of him he just couldn’t stop laughing.

Bedtime, the boys tucking her in and trying to talk over each other, Lance wanting to read a book and Aniko wanting to sing.

Lance on the roof, having confiscated Aniko’s guitar, and his little siblings were in the yard screaming at him, three-year-old Dia having a downright tantrum because Aniko was trying to sing to her before Lance decided to be an absolute meanie.

There were so few. They were so faint. None of them showed Dia any older than seven, and even in those he could only find two. Aniko didn’t appear in any past age five. He saw Angela and the green-haired girl in four, always with Aniko, never with Lance, and Dia looked ecstatic to see them.

In all of these memories, Dia’s emotions went through a wide range, but the connecting bit was that she was spending time with her brothers.

The song shifted to the next phrase, taking it all away, and Lance tried to reach out to grab even one memory but he couldn’t move, couldn’t reach.

_“Have we lost our way back home?”_

_“We have made mistakes I know”_

Dia flickered in, looking about 9 or 10, and she was desperately trying to reel in the energy that was surrounding her. Kids were just beyond the range of the white sparks, faces or arms or legs bandaged up, and more horrific than anything Lance had felt was the realization that this moment didn’t have a single trace of static. Dia remembered this vividly.

She remembered it more vividly than any time she’d spent with him or Aniko.

_“We were braver still when we were young”_

Their younger selves were back, this time with the green-haired girl and with cheer that could be seen through the static. Aniko was barely standing, Angela and the other girl leaning on his back either trying to push him down or climb him, and all three were laughing. His own younger self had little Dia on his shoulders, pointing off into the distance showing her something that made her clap excitedly.

_“And when we were young”_

_“We spoke in tongues”_

The staticky images froze as Lance and Aniko turned to each other, stuck on half-smiles that were still more than they’d exchanged in the past ten years.

And as the music faded, so did the people, and so did the darkness. Disoriented and sobbing, Lance found himself kneeling in front of the cursed dorm, barely catching Dia as she fell back onto him. She was out cold, tears drying on her face, and the only thing Lance could think of to do was hold her tight and hope to the gods that she knew he’d never leave her again.

From Angela’s direction he heard a startled cry that didn’t belong to her, followed by soothing words and loud bawling. Lance looked up to find her being hugged from behind by a girl with curly black and blond hair, a cherry-red coat and a garland of vines now wrapped around her, all signs of the curse gone.

Lance had no idea what the hell was going on. Where did Dia get music magic? Why were everyone’s arms glowing? Would Dia be okay? Would Angela? Aniko?

Dia jolted in his arms, waking with a start. For a split second her eyes were a burning gold, but after a blink they were back to normal. Her breathing was heavy, noisy, and Lance shifted their positions to make it easier for her to get air. One of her hands sought out his, and he moved again, and her grip was so fierce it hurt, like she was afraid if she let go he’d vanish.

“I’m here,” he whispered. “I’m here, Dia. I’ll always be here.”

She closed her eyes, breathing carefully, then leaned into him, shaking like a leaf. “No more blaming,” she rasped, her voice torn apart. “No more fighting. It doesn’t matter whose fault anything is.” Dia coughed, and Lance tried to shush her, but she kept going. “I don’t blame you for his curse. For any of this. I don’t blame anyone. I just want it to be over. I want my brothers back.”

“I’m here.” He could barely choke it out, and now he wasn’t sure which of them was shaking more. “I’m here, Dia, I promise. We’ll get him back. I won’t rest until we do. I’m so sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.” She coughed again, then to his alarm seemed to try to pull herself from his grasp. He fought back, because she was in no condition to stand, but when she kept pulling he knew he couldn’t stop her. Still holding her, he forced himself to his feet, bringing her with him, and when she moved toward Angela and her daughter he walked her over. Still letting out bursts of sobs, Angela raised her head to look at them, and she tried to say something but couldn’t speak through her tears.

Dia reached out, wobbling a little before she steadied herself with Lance’s arm. With slow, careful movements, she lowered herself to her knees, and finally released Lance in order to hold her mentor just as tightly. She whispered things he couldn’t hear, and he couldn’t begin to describe the expressions Angela’s face shifted through as she tried to protest Dia’s words. But Dia kept pushing them, and eventually they seemed to sink in because she went quiet and listened, her green eyes squeezing shut as she tried to stop crying.

Angela’s daughter was watching him, her arms still wrapped around her mother, causing Angela to be sandwiched between her and Dia. There was a bandage patch on her face, just like the ones some of the kids had in the song, and Lance wondered if it was for the same reason. “I didn’t know,” she said quietly, looking afraid that he wouldn’t believe her.

“Neither did I,” he assured her. “She kept that secret for a long time.”

Abigail – he finally put the face to the name – ducked her head for a moment, then looked up at him again. “We’ll take care of Dia. I promise.”

“Yeah. We will.” Lance lowered himself to the ground, ignoring Abigail’s surprised face, and gently pulled his sister, her friend, and his brother’s girlfriend into his arms. “And we’ll take care of Aniko, too. We _will_ break this curse. For all of you.”

“He said-” Angela’s voice returned, broken and tired. “He said if you...if you did find out...he wanted you to come hear him play.”

“Think you could set that up?”

“Yeah.” She cleared her throat after the word came out with a rasp. “Yeah, I can. He’ll need time to process, though. It might take a while.”

“That’s okay,” Dia said. “As long as he needs.”

“He loves you. He loves you two so much, and he’s so sorry.” Angela was blinking back fresh tears. “He tried to push you away so he couldn’t physically hurt you. He’s trying so hard to fight it. I never wanted to keep it from you, I just-”

Everyone tightened their grip at once, and Angela struggled not to lose herself again. “He didn’t want to risk Dia spiking and not coming back. He knows it’s his fault. He’s trying to find a way to fix it. That’s why he-” She hiccuped from the effort of fighting back tears. “When he heard the bus Dia was on during the virus scare fried, he knew he had to do something. That’s why he invited her. He didn’t want me to say anything because if you knew it was him, he was worried you wouldn’t listen to me and you’d try to break away, and then the curse could’ve-”

“It’s okay.” Dia cut her off with nothing but a hoarse whisper. “We can talk about it later, Angela. It’s okay.”

“I wanted to tell you!”

“And you did. That’s what matters. It’s okay.”

“We all fucked up,” Lance reminded her. “Now it’s time to un-fuck it up.”

As Lance knelt there in that embrace, he thought back to the memories Dia had shown them. She’d known Angela, at least vaguely, and maybe that part of her was what let her forgive her so easily. Maybe she knew more about this curse than he did, something about that green-haired girl that Lance had never seen in his life but seemed so woven into Angela and Aniko’s happiness. He might never know as much as they did, might never fully understand just how much this curse had taken away from them.

He did know, however, that he could keep himself from ever adding to that pain again. No more running. No more pushing. No more breakdowns, if he could help it.

There was hope for his family again, and he’d chase it to the end of his days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song credit: "Have We Lost" by Flyleaf
> 
>  
> 
> Fun fact: OG-style Angela actually ended up with Lance. That uh, clearly didn't happen in this world. XD


	11. Chapter 9: Diamonds and Pearls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this chapter. I love it so much. All of it, for all the reasons.
> 
> 9/26/19: Made some changes to the second half of the chapter so things flow better.

 

Monday morning until lunch, Melodia and Angela rested in their rooms. When Melodia returned to class, she told her friends she’d had a really eye-opening talk with her brother and ‘please don’t make me talk about it, thanks’. She joined Enzo and Jaden in for occult club, partly because they begged her and partly because they and Professor Banner helped her feel at ease. She had no interest in the actual activities – they were in the middle of researching something called Millennium Items – but something about the atmosphere let off by the club and its members allowed her to settle.

After clubs, Melodia joined Angela and Abigail in the robotics room. Vince launched out of her comm bracelet after she called him, and when Lance came in, the five of them talked. It was a bit of everything – Knights, the curse, the archive attack, Aniko’s situation. She explained how she’d gotten Silvio’s power, how she’d spent Sunday with the music club and they’d helped her write the song she’d sung. It had been meant for Lance, but she’d adjusted it for Angela’s inclusion, and that was the reason for the long pause before the projection began. To her surprise, Lance told her that Aniko had a similar power, minus the projections. He showed her a pub website with a pianist named Kian Brooks, and apparently it was Aniko in disguise – trying to keep from losing himself by using that power along with pianos that Angela had made him.

She didn’t mean to cry, but all the memories she’d dug up were still in her mind, even if they were hazy and vague. She _remembered_ Aniko singing to her, and didn’t know why it had taken until today to do so. Abigail suggested the fear of his sudden personality shift had likely caused her to block off a lot of her younger memories subconsciously. If she didn’t remember how he used to be, she couldn’t feel miserable about it.

She’d had no idea that the friends he’d brought home sometimes were Monica and Lynn. Angela apologized repetitively for never telling her – like Aniko, she hadn’t wanted to risk anyone spiking and getting hurt. She swore that she wasn’t hiding anything else regarding Aniko, herself, or the curse. Melodia believed her.

Abigail was mostly quiet the whole time, though whether it was from processing everything or the effort of trying to keep Angela calm, Melodia wasn’t sure. It kind of looked like she wasn’t really certain what to do in this situation. Then again, the last time knowledge of the Rose Knights had gotten out, Angela and Aniko had been cursed, so it was likely hard for her to talk about it with a non-Knight like Lance.

Vince, for his part, took everything fairly well. By now he’d been given a brief rundown of the Knights and the Thorn Curse, and learning about the archive attack on top of that answered a lot of his questions. Lance, on the other hand, got stuck for a while on the ‘Vince is a magic warrior that can zip through technology and provide emotional healing’. (On that subject, Melodia did finally learn that she would not, in fact, be able to ‘zip’ as well, which was kind of a bummer. Apparently Knight powers had a habit of being unique to one person per generation.)

Lance was less surprised to learn about Vince’s telepathy, while the rest of them were floored. While she did remember hearing Vince’s voice before he’d popped out on Halloween, part of her had thought she’d imagined it in the panic. Lance just said it explained a lot about how Vince and Daniel seemed to communicate without actually doing so, and demanded that Vince confess to the others when he returned to Arus.

Due to Melodia still not wanting her identity known, Vince and Lance were unable to stay for dinner. The former disappeared back into her bracelet to return to the Castle of Lions, his Voltcom apparently his exit point. The latter held her for a long time before heading out to finish patrolling for the day...though not before he promised Angela he’d still tell Pidge about the pianos.

Melodia and Angela both ate some Indanth vine that night to prevent any dreams.

* * *

 _Little Diamond,_  
_It’s Aniko. Right now you’re five years old. I don’t know if you’ll ever see this, but I hope I’ll have the peace of mind to be able to send it one day._  
_I’m sorry for everything you’ll go through. I’m sorry for all the hurt I’ll put you through. I’m going to try to limit our interactions so that doesn’t happen. I’m sorry if I fail.  
_ _I don’t hate you. Please, above all else, know that. I may push you aside, I may break your heart, I may cause damage I can never fix, and the guilt of these things I haven’t yet done is already crushing me. Please know I love you, and I always will, and one day I hope I’ll be able to say that to your face._

 _Little Diamond,_  
_You’re eight now. It’s the week you’re staying with me. Lance is off in another solar system, and Mom is attending a funeral. We dueled today. That was a mistake.  
_ _I think part of my curse has passed to you. I hope I’m wrong. I’m so sorry if I’m not. Please, go back to Arus with a big smile, hold tight to your friends, and don’t let my errors ruin your life._

 _Little Diamond,  
_ _This year you turned nine. Right now it’s two months after the Incident. Lance is taking it hard, and you aren’t showing it but I think you are too. Stay strong. Fear is how the curse gets to you, and I know you have it now. I’ve seen the dead flowers you tried to bury in the backyard. I’m so sorry I did this to you._

 _Little Diamond,_  
_It’s a few months before your eleventh birthday. Lance is acting weird. Well, he’s been acting weird ever since I was cursed, but I thought he was just trying to keep you away from me. After the Lions rejected you just_ _after your ninth birthday he started getting pushier, and now it looks like he wants you to hate him.  
_ _I’m worried. We’ve fought so much since I was cursed. I hope I didn’t pass part of it to him, too. I hope he’s just stupid and thinks he’s doing the right thing. I’m sorry for all this pain._

 _Little Diamond,_  
_Do you remember how I would always play music for you? That was so long ago. You’re twelve now. When I was cursed, I couldn’t play anymore. I kept destroying my physical instruments, and I couldn’t control the energy ones._  
_Yesterday I found a piano that absorbs electric power, even my curse. Today I met the person who made it. Do you remember Monica? She was one of my friends from school. Well, more than that. We were dating back then. She’s cursed, too. We agreed it would be better to go our separate ways after so we could never spike at the same time and hurt anyone._  
_I wanted to bring her over for Christmas that year. I never got the chance. I hope you get to see her again one day. She’s making me another piano, one I can move around to play in other places.  
_ _I wish I could play for you again. I don’t think you’d want me to now, though. Maybe one day._

 _Little Diamond,_  
_I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. This is all my fault._  
_You just turned 15. The bus virus...if I hadn’t dueled you back then, those people would be safe. The virus could have been taken out and you’d have suffered no more than a panic attack. Instead you experienced your first spike and totaled the bus. I should have said no that day._  
_If the curse is spiking like this even when you haven’t been chosen, I can’t risk it happening again. I have no idea what it might do to you in that state. In a few days, when I have enough calm time to do so, I’m going to invite you to the castle. Even if you get a black rose, at least you’ll have some form of protection. You’ll survive.  
_ _One day I hope you don’t have to just survive. I hope we can live._

 _Little Diamond,_  
_Monica said you’re babysitting her niece now. While I’m typing this, she might be in the middle of teaching you to meditate, or how to adjust the output of your energy, or something like that. I hope it’s helping. I hope, I hope.  
_ _Don’t be mad at her for not telling you everything. There are things I don’t want you to know yet. If I can prevent spikes by keeping secrets, I will._

 _Little Diamond,_  
_Congratulations for making it into Duel Academy. If I wasn’t afraid of hurting you, I’d be at dinner tonight. Know that I’m proud of you.  
_ _The game is connected to the curse, to the roses, everything. I don’t know all the details. Trust Midnight Angel. Monica says she’s started appearing. Maybe she’ll know something about the connection, or maybe the spirit of your level 7 Rose card will. I hope you learn everything you need to know to keep yourself safe._

 _Little Diamond,_  
_Monica just told me. You’re a green rose._  
_I had hoped you would be._ _It fits you so well.  
_ _Use that power. Heal people. Heal yourself. Maybe one day you can heal us.  
__I hope you like the figurines. When I saw the queen you got from Mom, I had to see if it was a set or not. Turns out it was. Took a while to find them all, though._

 _Little Diamond,_  
_Things are moving so fast. Yesterday was Halloween. The tenth anniversary of the attack, and the curse._  
_You met Demonica. You helped her. Thank you._  
_Don’t be angry with Professor Banner. He didn’t tell her he had that Last Wish because I asked him not to. Something about the black rose and the curse mixed together let me see it was a green wish, and I knew I had to get it to you. I planted it in that bookstore and followed him after._  
_Tell Monica I’m sorry for stealing it from her. She didn’t know it was green. She didn’t know it was for you. It was just dumb luck that it was to help her.  
_ _You have Silvio’s magic now. Music. I know you’ll use it well. I’m so proud._

 _Little Diamond,  
_ _You had another spike today. I’m sorry._ _I’ve had a rough day too. I love you._

 _Little Diamond,_  
_Monica just called me. You know._  
_Sorry for the inbox spam. I ha_ _ve_ _a few minutes of clarity built up. I wanted to send these while I had the chance. I don’t know if you’ll see them in the morning, but if you do, I hope_ _to_ _day is so much better_ _than yesterday_ _._  
_If you get the chance, punch Lance in the face for me. Monica told me all about his brilliant plan._ _He’s the biggest idiot I’ve ever known, but I’m so glad you two are talking again._  
_I love you, Diamond. I always have and I always will. I hope you’ll let me play for you. I’m at my best during December. The cold freezes the curse a little, I guess. Bring Mom. Let her know I love her. Tell her I’m sorry for cutting her out. I just wanted to protect her. She did everything she could for me._  
_I hope we get to talk. Really talk. Not me forcing past the curse for a few seconds to listen to you, or you sitting miserably at a dinner party you want no part of. I want you to be able to talk to me, even if it’s just to tell me how angry you are. Even if you hate me._  
_I can’t forgive myself for what I did to you. The ignoring was better than the possibility of me dragging you down too. I hope you can understand that. I understand if you can’t._  
_I haven’t told Monica this... I’ve been sneaking into the archives to try and find a way to pull your curse back into m_ _e_ _. I don’t know if it’s possible._ _I want it to be._  
_I’m so sorry. I never should have asked her to invite me. Then you wouldn’t have to go through any of this. I should have kept my mouth shut that day._ _But I didn’t._  
_My time’s up. I wish I had more._ _I love you.  
_ _A_ _niko_

 

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **did you give him my email**

 **Miss A. Rosenberg:  
** **yeah  
** **you okay?**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **I think I need the day off**

 **Miss A. Rosenberg:  
** **want company? I’m drained too. Was going to hide in my room til club time.**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **yeah**

 **Miss A. Rosenberg:  
** **I’ll let the teachers know you’re not feeling well. See you in a bit.  
** **We could uh  
** **listen to some recordings of him?**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **yaeh**

* * *

Melodia and Angela really did nothing much at all on Tuesday but sit and watch variably-shaky camera recordings of Aniko’s performances. Angela had both filmed and downloaded a lot, so there was no shortage.

They talked a lot, too. Melodia learned things about her brother she never would have guessed – he was the one to give Angela her ‘Demonica’ outfit, trying to pay her back for his pianos. The reason his eyes weren’t gold was because he wore colored contacts. His hair didn’t do the arm thing like Angela’s did, so they figured that was more of a ‘Withering plus Thorn Curse’ side effect rather than just ‘curse’. The Imp deck he used once belonged to Angela, but she’d given it to him as a keepsake after they’d been cursed. Midnight Angel had been his present to her on her fourth birthday.

She also learned about Lynn. Lynn had used a mermaid deck. Her field spell had been Vital Ocean. She’d had a lavender rose and her powers involved physical apparitions and mental projections. Melodia had been the only little kid she’d ever liked.

Syrus’ singing of ‘Twinkle Twinkle’ having calmed her spike so effectively was explained, too, by complete chance. There was a video of ‘Kian’ taking questions in the mix, and one of them had been regarding his mention of her in his web-page bio.

He was playing the whole time, idle notes that meant nothing. It kept the piano active, allowing it to continue sucking in the erratic energy that never seemed to stop pouring from him. He looked around for the next person to pick, then lifted one hand briefly to point at someone. “Yes, you, with the curly hair and the green jacket.”

The camera didn’t show the person in question, but the voice was definitely a woman’s. “You said on your page that you used to play a lot of music for your little sister. Is it okay if I ask what your favorite song to sing her was?”

He’d laughed awkwardly, ducking his head for a moment and pulling at his ponytail, which looked so strange yet so fitting. “Ah, yeah. That’s a fair one. Uh, so, it was just one of those little nursery songs, you know? She was just tiny, they were her favorite thing. I think it was her third birthday, I sang it for the first time. Well, my version of it. Let me see, I think I can remember-”

His playing shifted, the tune of several different kids’ songs coming out. He didn’t add any magic or summon any instruments like he did with all his other songs; he looked quite content to just have the piano and his voice.

“Twinkle, twinkle, little stars”

“How we wonder what they are”

“Shining high up in the skies”

“Like the diamonds in your eyes”

“Twinkle, twinkle, all those stars”

“Bet you’ll find out what they are”

 

Melodia thought just the piano was perfect, too.

* * *

Wednesday morning, Melodia felt ready to face the world again. She’d spent all her meals in Angela’s room the day before, so when she entered the cafeteria, the boys were quick to wave her over to their table and ask if she was feeling better. Thinking about the revelations of Monday and the songs of Tuesday that were still swimming in her head, she only had one thing to say:

“I haven’t felt this good in a really long time.”

Before they split for classes, Enzo asked her again in private, and she answered by giving him a CD that held one of the songs she’d heard Aniko play, newly sung by herself with her magic. She apologized for having taken so long with it, and he just hugged her tight.

Class was fairly decent. The teachers asked if her stomach was better, and she said yes, and they left it at that. In last period they were reminded that practicals would be taking place as scheduled in two weeks, and everyone looked at her, and without thinking she responded with, “Excuse me for being traumatized.”

She visited the gardening club due to Angela’s suggestion the day before, and was able to speed-grow a collection of Indanth vines without any trouble. Abigail was happy to help collect them, and quite surprisingly it was Zane that helped her plant the new seeds. Apparently he was a gardener. He was also relieved to see both her and Angela after their absence from robotics on Tuesday. Now that she was actually talking to him a little more, kind of, Melodia was starting to see more of the ‘trying to be better’ thing Syrus was talking about. He was usually flat-faced when he voiced concerns, but at least he was voicing them now.

After some time in the Ra lobby with the guys, just hanging out and doing nothing in particular, Melodia made her way to the cursed dorm to discharge. She wasn’t sure how much she really had stored up, to be honest. While listening to Aniko sing, it felt like her energy was fluctuating a lot, maybe trying to respond to whatever magic had been caught by the camera. Either way, she wanted to stay on schedule. Maybe she’d sing first. Let it lead her through a projection like she’d done the other night. As much as she was relieved Aniko didn’t hate her, didn’t think she was a failure, didn’t think a lot of things she’d thought he did…

There was a lot to process. About him. About Lance. Angela. Lynn.

She’d known Lynn. Lynn was dead. Her stomach churned every time the thought crossed her mind.

On auto-pilot, Melodia hopped over the Keep-Out sign and started gathering her energy together, trying to tune out the pain in her arm. She was about to open the tap when a pink light burst out at her left, coming from the second-floor window panes of the dorm.

For a few seconds, all she could do was stare. An echo of energy washed through the empty windows, brushing past her with a warmth that smelled like the sea. It rustled the bits of grass she’d grown with her previous discharges, but dissipated before it reached the barriers. It was only when the energy was gone that Melodia realized someone had to be inside the dorm to be doing this.

 _But...the barriers are supposed to say when someone enters._ Melodia glanced back at the fence, watching the barely-visible white-red and blue walls shimmer in the early evening light. Both Angela and Abigail would’ve been alerted, yet neither of them were here, and neither of them had asked her to check. They knew she discharged today, sure, but they’d been very clear that her entry wouldn’t set off the barriers. They didn’t react to Rose Knights. Was the person upstairs…?

No, that was impossible. Melodia didn’t know a lot about how the other Knights’ magic felt, but she knew they had no connection to the ocean. Not even Vince could set off energy with that unmistakable scent. Aniko…

Just yesterday, Angela had said that Aniko didn’t have any detailed control over his curse. There was no way he could focus any sort of blast like that without serious destruction. The energy she’d felt didn’t feel anything like the Thorn Curse, and there was very clearly no big explosion or catastrophic damage caused by it.

Who the heck was it, then? Someone who could get past the barriers without being detected...the scent of the ocean…A Rose Knight connected to the ocean? The only person that came to mind was...

Lynn was dead. And Melodia was pretty sure that past duel spirits, ghosts didn’t exist. Right…?

She stood there in confused silence for so long that by the time the footsteps sounded at the entry, it was too late for her to hide. The doors, which Melodia was suddenly realizing were no longer lying crookedly off their hinges, were pushed gently open, and a figure that was thankfully not a green-haired ghost and/or undead stepped out.

They noticed her in an instant. Melodia found herself meeting the startled gaze of the exchange student from Bezzek – at least, she assumed it was her. That certainly wasn’t a Duel Academy uniform.

The girl looked from her to the bits of grass, then up at the barriers she shouldn’t have been able to see. When her gaze dropped back to Melodia, her eyes were narrowed, either in suspicion or thought. Melodia couldn’t tell with the distance.

“You the one that’s been working on this?” The exchange student’s question came out of nowhere. “The grass. Little pockets of purity.” When Melodia didn’t answer right away, too busy trying to process, she seemed to backpedal. “Ah, that’s not a criticism. It’s good work for someone who isn’t trained. I noticed the common area and the basement, too. Big stuff. Must’ve knocked you out a bit.”

Melodia had heard a lot of people talk over the years, from company owners to politicians to doctors to chefs and everything in between. Being a member of one of the most famous families on Earth gave that kind of experience. She wasn’t an expert on reading people, but the way the exchange student spoke set off one specific alarm bell in her mind: a script.

She’d been expecting to be caught, and she’d figured out exactly what she wanted to say when it happened. Unfortunately, her delivery wasn’t as smooth as she’d likely hoped. It more sounded like when Melodia was forced to say something nice about one of her brothers when they did something noteworthy and she wanted to be anywhere else.

“I’m Ma’creyt,” the exchange student continued, noticing Melodia still wasn’t speaking. “Ma’creyt Se’a.”

Between the fact that she hadn’t discharged, the pain from the dark energy, and the weird pulses in her head that hadn’t left since listening to Aniko’s recordings, it was hard for Melodia to answer. “Melodia...Moon. What are you doing, exactly?”

Ma’creyt held tight to her script, as awkward as it was. “Just trying to help. I noticed that at the rate you’re going, it’ll take years to fix this. Even with the big blasts inside, sure they’re strong work but the fatigue you left behind was, uh—I mean, it wasn’t good. It’s not something you should make a habit of. It’s dangerous.”

As subtly as she could, Melodia patted her deck pouch twice, calling for Midnight Angel. “I’m aware of my limits. You did see the Keep Out sign on the fence, right?”

“That doesn’t seem to be stopping you and whoever made those barriers.”

“We’re exceptions.” When Midnight Angel appeared in her little light show, Ma’creyt gave no sign that she noticed. “You could get sent back to Bezzek for ignoring that.”

“They can try.” While still holding the feel of a script, there was suddenly a harsher tone in Ma’creyt’s voice. Melodia gathered just a little energy, enough to stun if Ma’creyt turned violent. At the same time, Midnight Angel had clearly sensed the shift in the dorm’s energy and had flown up to investigate. “I don’t think my school would take me back, though. I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to do. I’m cleaning dark energy and repairing spiritual damage. So what if I need to break a rule to do that? They’d be proud.”

The script was faltering. Ma’creyt was getting defensive, but not angry. Nothing she was saying made sense, though. Why wouldn’t her school care about her entering forbidden areas during the exchange? Duel Academy would definitely punish her, even if she was helping. Melodia only got a pass because she was a Knight. She was fairly certain Ma’creyt was not.

“Look, what’s it matter to you anyway? I’m not getting in your way, I’m doing exactly the same thing you are, just better.” Ma’creyt was making a visible effort to contain her temper, with her fists balls at her sides and her face twitching a lot like Lance’s did. “I’m not telling you to stop. I’m just doing what I can while I’m here. You want this place fixed, right? Your tainted energy can only do so much.”

Melodia was having trouble keeping track of what was scripted and what wasn’t. Ma’creyt seemed to jump back and forth with it, not quite off-guard but not keen on the questioning either. “You seem to know a lot.”

“Of course I do! Panica told me to help Tegan’s chosen fix their messed up dorm, she wouldn’t send me in blind. Didn’t Tegan tell you I was coming?”

Panica? Tegan? Melodia was pretty sure she’d never heard those names before, but the vague confusion that was fighting with Ma’creyt’s anger made her feel like she should. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. If you’re trying to sound clever, you’re failing miserably.”

“...Tegan. _Tegan,_ how do you not-” Most of the anger had left Ma’creyt, leaving the confusion free to grow. “It’s Tegan! Goddess of plants and life! How do you—doesn’t she talk to you? How can a chosen not know their own patron?” When Melodia just stared at her uncomprehendingly, she demanded, “You _are_ a Rose Knight, aren’t you?”

Melodia stumbled back, her left hand grabbing her right arm of its own accord. The energy she’d gathered sparked out around her in a panic, too weak to purge any darkness and doing nothing but making scattered lights. The rest she kept closed tightly behind the tap, because she knew if she let any more out, someone was going to get hurt.

Ma’creyt knew about the Knights. The last time someone found out about the Knights, Aniko and Angela had been cursed and Lynn had died.

Ma’creyt stared at her. All Melodia could think of was how much she refused to let something like that happen again. She couldn’t let anyone get hurt like that again. Even if Ma’creyt claimed to be healing the dorm, even if she was telling the truth about this god stuff and whoever this ‘Tegan’ was supposed to be, all Melodia could do was flinch as Ma’creyt stepped forward, and from the air itself sprang a green translucent wall that flickered with uncertain and unstable white sparks.

With no idea how she’d done it, Melodia vaguely realized she’d made her first barrier. Ma’creyt was on one side, and she was on the other, and Midnight Angel had noticed the energy form and was back at her side. To Melodia’s surprise, she was corporeal.

 _“_ _Who are you, how did you do it, and what do you want?”_ Midnight Angel’s voice held such command that Melodia was genuinely startled Ma’creyt was unaffected. If anything, she just seemed more baffled.

“I already told your friend-”

 _“_ _How did you fix so much of this place in so little time?”_

“Again, I just said-”

 _“_ _No mortal magic can do what you did!”_

“It’s not mortal magic! I’m a chosen of Panica!”

 _“_ _Who is Panica?”_

“The sister of the patron god of the Rose Knights! How do you not know this?!”

_The sister of the who what huh?_

Though Melodia wasn’t following in the slightest, Midnight Angel stiffened. Taking the silence as a chance to continue, Ma’creyt motioned to her belt, but all Melodia could see was a heart-shaped buckle with a dot of pink inside. “I’m a pearlholder of Panica, the goddess that watches over Bezzek! Tegan, the goddess of your planet’s Rose Knights, is her sister!” She was looking at Melodia incredulously, as if this sort of thing should be common knowledge. “Panica asked me to help you fix this place, that’s why I’m here...Didn’t Tegan tell you?”

Slowly, Melodia dropped her gaze to look at her sleeve, the green light of her mark pulsing just enough to poke through. God of...the Rose Knights? Pearlholder? Patrons?

Gears were turning, and though Midnight Angel seemed unable to speak, Melodia managed to find her voice. “Are you saying...that your patron... _talks_ to you?”

Momentarily looking as if she had some exasperated retort, Ma’creyt opened her mouth, then froze as Melodia’s words clicked. She mimed a fish, straightened awkwardly, then asked in a strangled, cracking voice, “Yours _doesn’t?”_

Silence stretched across the dorm yard as the three of them sifted through the conversation, each of them trying to make sense of it. Melodia looked again at Ma’creyt’s belt buckle, and the dot of pink inside. Pearlholder. Panica. Was that the Bezzekian equivalent of the Rose Knights? Were there other gods with other chosen on other planets?

Their god had a name?

Swallowing, Melodia was able to move her hand and reach up to tap Midnight Angel’s arm. As stiff as a puppet, the spirit turned her head, and Melodia could see that all this was just as unknown to her.

“Get the others,” was all she could say. Midnight Angel slowly nodded, and Melodia watched her take off and fly toward the main building, her physical form dissipating as she left the energy of the dorm behind. When she was out of sight, Melodia turned back to Ma’creyt, tinted green by the barrier that still stood between them and looking as if she was trying to understand a textbook far beyond her knowledge. She was muttering to herself in Bezzekian, moving her arms in ways that didn’t make sense, clearly trying to figure out why Melodia didn’t know these things that were so obvious to her.

Frankly, Melodia was wondering exactly the opposite. How did Ma’creyt know so _much_ when she and the others knew so _little_? Had the attack on the archives taken more information than she’d realized? Did Angela know any of this? She’d sworn she didn’t have any more secrets. After revealing Aniko’s involvement in the Knights, she’d been so shaken that Melodia didn’t think she _could_ have kept anything else from them. Even yesterday, she couldn’t stop babbling information about Aniko and Lynn for more than a few minutes unless they were watching the videos.

Angela had kept a lot from her, but it had all been to protect her. And even though that was a theme Melodia was really starting to hate seeing, between her and Lance and even Aniko in his lack of control over himself… Ever since Halloween, Angela had been making an honest effort to teach her everything she could about the Rose Knights. She’d always referred to their god as ‘our god’ or ‘the rose god’, never ‘Tegan’. She’d never said anything about gender. Never said there were more gods, more chosen.

Melodia was still learning about Angela and how she thought and how she worked. But she did know that Angela had grown up knowing about the Knights, excited to join them when it was her turn. She held their god so highly, thought of their positions as Knights so reverently, that Melodia couldn’t imagine she wouldn’t use a name if she knew it. Wouldn’t use pronouns if she knew them.

Watching Ma’creyt mutter to herself in desperation, Melodia realized that this pearlholder from another planet knew more about their god than any of them did. It had a sobering effect, shutting down the fear that was trying to make her spike, and though the interaction had left her a little fuzzy in the head, she knew they couldn’t afford to not learn what Ma’creyt knew. She had names. She had titles. She had _contact._

Maybe she’d even have a way to break the curse.

* * *

As they waited for the others, Melodia watched Ma’creyt pace endlessly on the other side of the green and white barrier. She was still muttering to herself, things Melodia couldn’t make out, pulling at her hair and her sleeves, maybe just trying to calm down.

On the other hand, the only times Melodia had felt so focused were when she’d spoken to Silvio and when she’d been trying to talk Angela through her spike just the other day. Sure, it wouldn’t really help to get her hopes up and think they suddenly had vital information about the curse, but at the very least they might learn _something_ useful. A way to de-Wither Angela, or lessen the danger of spikes… And even if Ma’creyt couldn’t help with any of that, she was fixing the dorm. That in itself was incredible.

By the time the others arrived, Melodia had figured out how to take down her barrier, and Ma’creyt was no longer frantically flailing. She watched calmly as Angela disappeared inside the dorm, and exchanged greetings with Abigail without any scripts. Melodia had the feeling she no longer had one that would fit the situation.

When Angela appeared in the dorm entryway, she made a beeline for Ma’creyt and Abigail. Melodia joined them just in time to hear her mentor ask, “How long have you been doing this?”

“Since Monday. One floor of a wing per day.” Ma’creyt’s claim had Melodia stunned. Five rooms per day, for three days? All in a row? That would be almost all of them.

“How?” Angela demanded.

Ma’creyt took a long breath, giving one final look as if hoping one of them would give in and say they knew all about Panica and Tegan and magic pearls. But they didn’t, so she straightened herself and cast away her confusion. “My planet is watched over by the goddess Panica, a deity known for water, music, and purification. Panica retains a constant guard of eight pearlholders, of which I hold the pink pearl. At the time of our choosing we’re each given a type of purification magic, depending on what fits us best. I purify through singing.”

“So music magic,” Abigail cut in. She and Melodia exchanged a look – this added up to three people with some form of it, connected to the roses...or pearls, in this case. It wasn’t particularly stunning in a general case, but it wasn’t often one met someone else with such similar magic.

Ma’creyt shrugged. “Well, essentially. It usually is something like that. Just the type depends on how we roll.”

“So you’ve come out here and sung clean 15 rooms in three days,” Angela summarized, “because your patron...asked you to.”

“Because she talks to you,” Melodia added, still in disbelief.

Shoving hair out of her face, Ma’creyt nodded. “Panica’s very chatty. I thought...She never said Tegan didn’t talk to you. I just assumed...she did.” Though clearly frustrated, she also looked apologetic. “Look, I meant what I said. I’m just trying to help, okay? Panica asked me to fix the place, so I’m fixing the place. It’s what pearlholders _do._ We purify stuff.”

Angela’s lips were pursed together, something Melodia didn’t see very often. She also didn’t respond at first, which was understandable, but when she did it wasn’t words. All she did was lift a hand and motion for them all to follow her, then turned to go back into the dorm.

From the entrance, they went up the stairs and to the left. As they walked, Melodia felt her mark calming, the usually ever-present sting melting to a dull throb. That didn’t even happen in the room Midnight Angel had redirected her mass discharge to. She wasn’t sure about the basement.

Then again, as they stepped into the upper hall and went to round the corner to the bedrooms, she could tell what the difference between there and here was without even blinking. Abigail swore at the sight. Angela was either crossing her arms or hugging herself, Melodia couldn’t figure out which. Not that she was really paying attention – all she could do was drop her own arms to her side and stare.

The cracked walls, the decaying doors, the shattered lights, all the staples of the dorm that hinted at its situation – there wasn’t a single trace of any of it beyond the turn of the hall. Even the window panes once again held fresh, clear glass, as if it had never been gone at all and was just cleaned. The carpet looked like it had just been set.

They walked through the hall hesitantly. Part of Melodia wondered if it was just an illusion, but Angela tested the closest door and it worked perfectly. Peering inside revealed a completely intact bedroom, and if she didn’t know better she’d think she was looking into a different building altogether.

Almost as one, the three Knights turned to Ma’creyt, who was opening one of the restored windows. There was no shove, no difficulty, it simply slid open as if it did so every day. When she realized they were looking at her, she frowned. “What?”

“This isn’t purification.” Abigail was struggling to speak. “This...This is...This shouldn’t be possible.”

“No mortal magic,” Melodia agreed, echoing Midnight Angel’s accusations.

“I told you, it’s-” Ma’creyt cut herself off, shaking her head. “Whatever. Don’t believe me. It’s Panica’s blessing no matter what you think, I don’t have to defend myself.” She leaned on the windowsill and stared at the opposite wall, crossing her arms. “I can’t do electrical or plumbing or stuff like that, so that’s all on you. Structure and cosmetics, sure. The place wasn’t blown up, it was cursed, that’s what’s eroding everything. That’s why purification works.”

“Mine doesn’t do that,” Melodia tried to counter, but Ma’creyt just shook her head.

“Of course it doesn’t. Sure, you’ve got the ability to cleanse it, but the nature of your energy right now is just as cursed as this place is. You can take out the darkness and keep it from coming back, but at a certain point the essence of the energy is just too ingrained in the surroundings to be completely removed by anything tainted.”

Finding the three were still staring at her, Ma’creyt just started glaring. “I literally go to school for magic and purification. I can’t _not_ know this stuff. Be suspicious all you want, doesn’t change what I know. And what I know is that if I stick to the rate I’m working at, I can likely get the whole place done before I leave. Do you want that or not?”

Both Melodia and Abigail turned to Angela, who once again had her lips pressed firmly together and was watching Ma’creyt carefully.

“Abigail,” she said at last, speaking slowly, “would you pull up a barrier for me real quick?”

Abigail complied without question, a translucent blue wall appearing in the hall. Once it was in place, Angela continued, “Show us how you got in without triggering the alarm.”

With a sigh, Ma’creyt lifted an arm, her palm facing the barrier. The pink spot in her belt buckle seemed to shimmer, and a tiny ripple appeared in the blue. It slowly spread, turning an oval of the rectangle pink, and Ma’creyt motioned with her head for them to touch it. Angela swiped her hand through it, and Abigail’s brow furrowed. “Nothing.”

“Compatible blessings,” Ma’creyt said simply, lowering her hand. The barrier returned to normal, and Abigail dismissed it. “Panica and Tegan are sisters. Any god of their generation can give blessings and they’ll work in tandem. Just how it goes.”

There was another silence before Angela spoke. “Any as in there are others?”

“Far as I know there’s seven. It’s an elemental thing. Actually, that curse you guys have is the product of a corrupted blessing once made by the god of light. It hit a simple consequence spell being formed by the goddess of ground, which she was making at Tegan’s request. Only reason it’s still around is they can’t figure out how to untangle it.” Ma’creyt shrugged calmly, as if this wasn’t mind-shattering news. “Panica’s been trying, but she stretches herself a little too thin between dimensions, so even trying to corner the thing is challenging. I think she said something about the link making both the corrupted blessing and your curse somewhat sentient.”

Melodia slumped against the closest wall, while Abigail sucked in a breath. Once again taking the lead, Angela pressed, “You’re referring to the Thorn Curse?”

“Well, yeah. It’s all over you. Really, props for fighting it so long, that’s pretty impressive.”

“And...Panica, she just knows all of this? And doesn’t mind telling you?”

“Eh...to be fair, Panica’s got this whole ‘mom’ feeling to her in general, and she says her siblings make fun of her for it, so… Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was trying to help without directly interfering with you guys. I don’t really mind being a messenger.” Ma’creyt paused, then frowned at them again. “Disregarding Tegan’s silence for a moment, don’t you guys have like, a record system? This should all be in there.”

“We lost a chunk of our archives ten years ago,” Melodia said stiffly. Ma’creyt was saying everything so casually, as if it didn’t matter how much it affected them as long as she wasn’t in harm’s way. “We haven’t exactly had a chance to study everything, either.”

“...Oh.” The frustration seemed to fade from Ma’creyt’s gaze. “Sorry, I didn’t...”

“Didn’t think, I noticed.” Melodia let the comment out, and was a little disappointed at the lack of reaction.

Shaking her head, Abigail leaned into the bedroom again before tugging at her hair, something Melodia was learning meant she was thinking. “So, Panica’s your god. And ours is Tegan?”

“Goddess of plants and life,” Ma’creyt confirmed, repeating what she’d earlier said to Melodia. “Panica says she’s pretty quiet, likes those duel spirits that your planet connects to. She actually started the Knights out as just duel spirits, but then Earth lost its hold on magic about ten thousand years ago and she had to choose humans too. I think it was about five thousand years ago that duel spirits got locked out?”

Angela was nodding, Abigail was frowning, and Melodia didn’t think that sounded quite right. Rose Warrior had said something about this when she’d been recovering in Moonlit Garden. What was it again? Something about barriers and stone tablets and…

“Ten thousand years ago is when the barriers between here and the spirit world were first created and spirits had to find other ways of getting through.” Melodia glanced over, and it was Abigail who’d said this, seeming irritated at Ma’creyt’s information. “ _Five_ thousand years ago was when the shadow games and accompanying magic made their way to this world. There was a pharaoh who locked them both away, and the link between here and the duel spirit world was broken. Then Pegasus discovered the remains of the stone tablets once used in Egypt for those games. Duel Monsters allowed the two worlds to connect again, though it also brought back the ability for shadow games to be played. It’s likely also the reason humans were able to rediscover their magic, as it was the link to the shadow games that gave it to them in the first place. The Garulians just saw that potential and finished opening the door, so to speak.”

Melodia felt her mouth once again dropping open slightly, and as if just realizing what she’d said, Abigail’s face flushed with pink and she looked away. “Rose Lord and I talk a lot,” she mumbled.

To see Abigail turn flustered was yet another thing Melodia hadn’t witnessed before. That Angela was surprised at her words just as much as she was, that was something else. “I...I see,” was all her mother could stammer out.

“I should adjust the barriers to cut this bit out. Would you mind taking Ma’creyt to the basement to make sure it’s okay?” Abigail was turning away from them now, going further down the hallway to get a better look at the purification. “Then you should probably get out. Don’t want your curses spiking from overexposure.”

“Uh, yeah. Good point.” Angela bit her lip for a moment, but started motioning for Ma’creyt and Melodia to head for the stairs. “Melodia, you head for the yard, if you haven’t discharged that should be your first priority-”

She was cut off as Ma’creyt interrupted, “Actually, I was hoping I could see that.”

Angela’s mouth twisted, and she glanced at Melodia for an answer. After blinking a bit in surprise, Melodia managed a nod. “Um, I’ll wait for you in the yard, then.”

She watched the other two head back downstairs, but looked back at Abigail before she followed. She was definitely shrinking the barriers, but…

Abigail had been acting a little oddly the past couple of days. It wasn’t just these few little things now, she’d been spacing out in class and it almost seemed like she wasn’t sleeping. Maybe it was the Aniko revelation? She couldn’t think of anything else that fit the time frame for it. Abigail had been quiet and a little out of it while they’d explained things to Lance.

Honestly, half the time she didn’t know where Abigail was at all. She really didn’t know her that well. Maybe she should try to reach out more?

 _“_ _So now I’m involved in your excuses, am I?”_

Melodia was pulled from her thoughts as an unfamiliar voice spoke. Looking back to Abigail, she found a spirit coalescing beside her – her level 7 card, Rose Lord. She’d never seen him outside a duel before.

Where Rose Warrior was short, weathered, sharp, and stiff, Rose Lord was everything else. Tall and slim, leaning casually forward on his scepter thing, an image of proper class and elegance. Even his hair, tied back in a long low tail, was completely opposite Rose Warrior’s do-it-yourself-with-a-spear look.

Abigail didn’t even give him a glance, instead snapping back, “Shut up, at least I didn’t spill about the gods.”

 _“_ _I never said you were going to.”_

“Just play along until she’s out of here, okay?” Pulling at the barriers more roughly than Melodia thought was necessary, Abigail was making quick and angry work of shrinking them. “It’s bad enough Panica’s got an eye over here now.”

Rose Lord tilted, not just with his head but with his whole body. _“Still angry at Tegan?”_

“Well _gee_ , let me see if I’ve got this right. Panica can send a chosen to another frikkin’ planet to heal something, but Tegan can’t give one peep about a missing student? Tell me _that’s_ fair!”

 _“_ _I already told you, he left of his own will.”_

“Yeah, and I’m pissed, okay?” With one final tug, Abigail locked the barriers into their new place. Melodia couldn’t see them besides a faint shimmer – the whole point was to not call attention to the dorm’s curse, so they were invisible – but she could see Abigail drop her arms to her sides. “Not even a word. Some friend.” There was venom in her tone, and it didn’t sound like her at all. “Let’s just go. Gotta get the other side, too, then get the verdict on the basement..”

Abigail sunk into the shadows, and Rose Lord dissipated into the small light show that usually accompanied Midnight Angel. Melodia was left alone in the hallway, struggling to understand what she’d just heard. It sounded almost like...Abigail had already known about Panica. And maybe Tegan, too? And what was this about a missing…

_No one’s seen Chazz since I reported him Saturday night._

She didn’t know anything about Abigail at all, did she? Blue rose. Powers that didn’t quite go together. Adopted by Angela eight years ago. That was it, really. Were Abigail and Chazz... _friends?_

Was Chazz even capable of understanding what friendship was?

When Melodia met the others in the front yard to demonstrate her discharge, there was a good deal more output than she’d expected. Ma’creyt said something about finding alternate ways to discharge to see what worked best, and Angela mentioned her music imagery, and by the time Melodia had her head on straight again, Abigail was gone.

Between gods having names, healing songs, and shimmering pearls, the most prevalent thing that kept Melodia up that night was that she had no idea how to help Abigail. Well...she had one idea, but she doubted it would do anything.

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **You’re something else, you know that? And that isn’t a compliment.  
** **I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but Abigail’s pretty messed up over your disappearing act.  
** **I don’t care what your great idea here is. I just want you to get your head out of your ass and at the very least tell her you’re alright.  
** **Don’t be a dumbass.**

* * *

Every day, Abigail joined Alexis Rhodes and her two friends for the walk to the classroom, and the four of them always entered together. Melodia arrived early to class the next morning, counting on that and hoping she’d get a chance to talk to her, but it was only a trio that walked in.

There was still time before the teacher arrived, so Melodia made her way over to them. She’d only spoken to Alexis a few times in music club, but it made it easier to approach her. “Uh, morning. Is Abigail running late?”

“Oh...” Alexis shook her head, giving an apologetic look. “Abigail woke up with a bad fever. She’s not going to be in class for at least a few days.”

She was sick? That was somehow less surprising than she expected. “Ah...okay. Um, could I ask you something, then?”

“Sure.”

“Um...I heard Abigail say something yesterday that...well, it sort of made it sound like she and Chazz were friends?”

Alexis’ friends sighed, though one was more aggravated compared to its amused companion. “Yeah, those two have been close since middle school,” the amused one answered.

The other gave her friend a look. “Close? Try at each other’s throats. Sometimes I think she’s going to bite his head off.”

Alexis chuckled. “It’s kind of both, really. This may be a little bit of an exaggeration, but I hear some people call them the greatest rivals that Duel Academy’s ever known. She’s probably the only person Chazz sees as an equal besides my brother, Zane, and their friend Yusuke.”

Melodia’s eyes drifted over to where Chazz normally sat, the empty seat surrounded by other Obelisks. That sounded about right, in her opinion. Chazz certainly thought highly of himself. “Only equal with the top three students, huh?” She wasn’t in the least bit surprised. “Abigail, though...I wouldn’t imagine it. How did it happen?”

With a shrug, Alexis confessed, “I think she was the first kid that didn’t take his crap. He tried to shut her up with a duel, but they tied. Been going back and forth ever since.”

“He was the one who busted her for going to the old dorm after it closed down, right?” one of her friends offered. It was the brunette...Jasmine, maybe? “Man, he was furious that she didn’t get in trouble.”

“It turned out she was helping her mom clean things out or something?” the other offered. (Miranda...no...Momo?) “Personally I think she was just trying to get some peace and quiet. He harassed her a lot back then.”

“You think that’s what’s bugging her?” Alexis suddenly realized. “Professor Banner said he left early Monday morning. She’s probably worked herself up so bad she made herself sick.”

“Professor Banner? When did he say that?” As far as Melodia knew, there had been no teacher acknowledgment of Chazz’s disappearance aside from frowns at roll call.

“Oh, we...ran into him yesterday.” The trio seemed suddenly hesitant to share details. “He helped Jasmine out. Sort of just mentioned it in passing.”

Melodia thought back to the messages she’d read in her chat group with Jaden, Syrus, and Bastion that morning as she was getting breakfast. Jaden was apparently obsessed with monkeys now, or something. And Syrus had mentioned Jasmine, right? Ugh, whatever. At this point she really didn’t care, as long as she got the information she was after. “So...he’s gone, then.”

The other girls shrugged, and Alexis agreed, “Seems so. I’ve tried contacting him, but he’s not answering any messages. Hopefully he’ll get over whatever’s going through his head and come back soon.”

There didn’t seem to be much more to say, so Melodia thanked them for their time and went back to her seat. Before class started, she shot out one more message, this time to Abigail.

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **Hope you feel better soon :** **D**

 

She never got an answer.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At last! I've rebooted my pearl girl like I've been wanting to this whole time! Welcome back, Meggie/Ma'creyt!!


	12. Chapter 10: Guardian Angel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back!

 

 **Kuriboi (Jaden):  
** **pls come to occult after lunch  
** **have secrets to share  
** **relates to duel spirits**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **what?**

 **Kuriboi (Jaden):  
** **hard to explain need voice just jion the spooky people after food**

* * *

Saturday morning, Melodia was a little more distracted than she wanted to be. Ma’creyt – or as she’d been dubbed by the music club on Friday, “Meggie” – was trying to help her expand on her musical abilities. Alexis’ brother Atticus had spilled the beans about them, and coupling that with Angela’s mention of it Wednesday, Meggie now saw it as her goal in life to give Melodia some kind of ‘defense magic’. This apparently meant learning how to make special effects with her projections instead of just soaking the entire area in one big scene. There was no explanation as to how this was defensive.

She wasn’t making a lot of progress, mostly because she couldn’t get Jaden’s message out of her head. How did he know about duel spirits? She could only assume he was able to see them, going by the little information he’d given. Why did that suddenly matter, though? And why did she need to be at his club meeting to hear more?

Part of her was also wondering if Enzo had just recruited him to help make their ‘dating’ more convincing, and if that was the case, that boy was getting thrown headfirst into the ocean. No jokes this time. The constant hugs in music club yesterday were bad enough. She really, really needed to stop letting him get away with it. Yes, she was happy that his nightmares were gone, very much so in fact, but that didn’t equal permission to hug her every five minutes.

Meggie clapped a few times, jarring her out of her thoughts once again. “S-Sorry. A lot on my mind.”

With a sigh, Meggie nodded. “Take five. Try to put your head together.”

“Sorry...”

Melodia sat against a tree and tried not to look at the cursed dorm. She understood why they were practicing here, sure, but her arm hurt and it just reminded her of what she’d overheard Abigail and Rose Lord talking about on Wednesday.

Chazz was still gone. Abigail was still locked in her room. And to top it off, Melodia had been trying to call Midnight Angel to check in on her, but the spirit wasn’t responding. She hoped that meant she was already taking care of Abigail. Then there was this thing Jaden was pulling, and she was still trying to wrap her head around the whole ‘Tegan and Panica and other gods’ thing… She just couldn’t focus. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t.

“Okay, stop pulling that face, you’re just going to tempt the dark energy looking that miserable.” At some point, Meggie had joined her by the trees, though she had no idea when. She jolted a bit and looked up to apologize again, but Meggie was sitting down next to her before she could say a word. “It’s a lot to take in, right?”

“Uh...well...”

“Look, I get it. There’s a lot going on. I know I spent a lot of my first year chosen just trying to process.” Meggie tilted her head back, staring up into the leaves above them. “Still am, sometimes. It’s pretty messy.”

“...How long have you been a pearlholder?”

Meggie thought about it a moment. “Well, I just turned 17, so...almost four years. I think that’ll be shortly after I go home.”

“13? That seems...young.”

“I mean, I guess. She never told me exactly why she picked me so early. I like to think I just impressed her.” Meggie smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Okay, so at the start of our snow season, what you’d call winter, the city puts on a parade for Panica. My family doesn’t believe in her, but I decided I wanted to see what was going on, so I convinced my sister to help me sneak out.” It was here that her eyes lit up, her smile broadened, and something about her just seemed to glow at the memory. “I saw her. I swear I did. There was this one float almost suffocating in bubbles, and she was right there in the middle blowing her own. When they popped, the air shimmered and you could smell the ocean. I followed that float the whole run. At the end I think everyone knew she was there, because I couldn’t hear anything but the people around me screaming and cheering. When she disappeared, it felt like she’d left a little piece behind. Right here.”

Meggie’s hand was on her chest, and Melodia was almost certain she could see tears in her eyes. “I wouldn’t shut up about it for days. My parents let me talk all I wanted, I hadn’t been so excited about anything before. They still didn’t believe, but they let me babble on and on...My grandparents thought I’d gone nuts. I think I might’ve scared my sister a little.” She laughed, and Melodia realized it was the first time she’d heard her do so. “I calmed down eventually, sure, but by that point there was no going back. Even if my family didn’t get it, I did. I started praying every night, just saying anything I could think of. Sometimes it felt like she was sitting there with me when I did it. That still happens, even now.”

She was quiet for a few seconds, likely just reliving it all. Melodia let her be. Seeing her like this was...something else, she couldn’t put it into words that made any sense. It made her feel warm inside and out, like swimming at the beach during the peak of summer. She was smiling too, and she didn’t know why. Meggie seemed at peace and that brushed away all the chaos and panic that had only moments ago seemed so overwhelming.

When she started speaking again, she somehow looked even more excited. “We have a celebration on Bezzek that lines up with the Christmas thing you do here, calendar-wise. It’s more based around memorials, but… Anyways, a few days before it, I was at school. There were a bunch of boys picking on this smaller kid, I think her name was So’ja, and I wanted so bad to just punt them across the schoolyard. I almost did. I ran up, I just about grabbed one of them, and then I decided So’ja needed me to help her more than those boys needed me to beat them up. So I grabbed her instead, just picked her up and flew off to the nearest teacher. First time I didn’t stop a bully by punching.”

She laughed again, and Melodia’s chest felt light. “It was the first time I’d seen a bully since the parade. So of course the thought of what Panica would want me to do was still in the front of my mind. And she was still there when I went to bed, after my parents spent the evening ecstatic that I hadn’t solved the problem with violence for once. And then...”

Melodia had never seen someone’s eyes sparkle, but Meggie’s seemed to do just that. She fell silent, reliving what had to be the night she’d been chosen. It was disappointing when she closed her eyes, for reasons Melodia couldn’t explain.

“It was the best night of my life,” Meggie whispered out of the blue, startling her. “I had a purpose. I had a goal. And even when things suck, I never lose sight of that, because Panica is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.” Smiling nostalgically, she looked at Melodia, who was fairly certain her face was on fire. “Find your best night. Figure out what it is about being a Rose Knight that drives you. It might not answer all your questions, but maybe it’ll help them seem a little less worrying.”

Since her voice was apparently taking a trip to the void, all Melodia could do was nod. Meggie stood, seeming content with that. “You go off and do whatever, okay? We can try this again before dinner or something. Just take some time to think.”

Melodia still didn’t have her voice back by the time she reached her room. She fell onto her bed, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling, trying to process what was going on in her head.

She was nothing like Meggie.

Meggie had full belief in her god. She’d been involved for years, her actions and thoughts were changed because of it. It was the greatest thing in her life. When she talked about it, she smiled and lit up and laughed and it was beautiful.

Burying her red face in her hands, Melodia wished she could be like that. She barely followed any of this god stuff, or what the Knights were supposed to do. She could accept it was real, but the joy that Meggie had in her role...she didn’t have that. She hadn’t changed like Meggie had. She was still quiet and scared, just chasing something that promised her a better way while not even knowing if it really _was_ better.

Meggie was incredible, and it raised a question in her mind she’d never considered before. _Could I be like that someday too?_ Strong, trusting, willing to help even if it put her in awkward situations...

She hoped so.

 _Find your best night,_ Meggie had said. _Maybe it’ll help the questions seem a little less worrying._

They had definitely been chosen in very different circumstances. Meggie seemed to have had it build up until she’d earned it by acting differently than she instinctively would. Melodia had been invited by Aniko so her curse would hopefully not devour her. Her ‘best night’ definitely _wasn’t_ her choosing, even if it might’ve seemed that way at the time.

She couldn’t think of anything. Most things that had happened since her choosing were disasters. Her talks with Lance, her power spikes while she trained with Angela and Milly, the multiple problems that had come up since she’d arrived at school. Could she look back on it and say any of it was something that she was proud of? Sure, she’d calmed Demonica. She’d gotten Enzo’s brothers locked up. She’d done some meager work on the dorm, and kept Jaden from getting involved in a shadow game.

But she hadn’t asked for any of that.

She’d initially thought that this god – that Tegan had invited her to be part of the Rose Knights, because she’d seen something in her. She’d seen the healer she had the potential to be. But it hadn’t been Tegan. It hadn’t been for her potential. It had been Aniko. It had been to save her life from something that was his fault.

Even with fuzzy memories brought back to the surface from her song on Monday, from the realization that he wasn’t always a jerk, from the emails he’d flooded her inbox with… That felt far less real than trying to accept she’d been picked by a god.

She wanted to believe it. She liked the idea of Aniko not hating everything about her. She wanted to see him the way Angela was able to, or even Lance, before he’d turned into what he was because of the curse. She wanted to see him the way she used to be able to.

But when she pictured Aniko, all she could see was anger or indifference or yelling or podiums or Duel Disks or–

_Stop. Turn it off. No._

She managed to roll herself onto the floor and ball up, minimizing the spike’s electric damage. Breathing deeply, slowly, she tried to stay in control, tried to remember what Angela had taught her. Meggie’s words came through instead. _In panic, don’t spark. Sing. Remind yourself why you can’t hurt people. Not won’t. Can’t._ _It’s just not an option._

Like a groggy bear, Melodia wordlessly and waveringly belted out the notes of her song, letting the white sparks turn into green swirls of calm light. Without lyrics to guide it, that was as far as it would get, masses of color filling her room.

Something warm and comforting settled on top of her, like a feathery blanket, and in her state Melodia couldn’t question it. All she knew was that it helped, and the wordless song helped, and not even needing a vine she managed to pull herself out of the spike before it got out of control.

She’d never been able to do that before. Was she scared that the spike had happened? Yes. Each spike put her closer to the curse grabbing full hold of her. Put her closer to having it affect her more like Angela...more like Aniko.

But was she proud that she’d gotten out of it without needing the Indanth vine? Yes. Yes, she was.

Even so, it was probably better to wait a while before she continued thinking about this.

As Melodia shakily pulled herself into a sitting position, the feathery blanket pulled away, and Midnight Angel came into view. Relief shot through her like an arrow, and she couldn’t stop the startled but ecstatic gasp that left her mouth.

Midnight Angel looked guilty. Sad. Worried. _‘Sorry’_ , she mouthed, her wings tucking in to take up less space as she set foot on the floor. She then gave a questioning thumbs-up – the same ones she’d been using to check on her before the school year had started. They hadn’t needed them so much since arriving on the island.

“I missed you.” It wasn’t what she’d meant to say, but it was the first thing to jump out. Melodia scrubbed her arm over her eyes, trying not to cry. “Are you okay?”

Still looking guilty, her spirit nodded. “Is Abigail?” Another nod, though hesitant. “Is this about Chazz?”

Midnight Angel’s eyes widened, and it was all the confirmation needed. “I talked to Alexis and her friends. They said Abigail and Chazz were rivals. Friends? ...Is Abigail going to be okay?”

Biting her lip, Midnight Angel turned away and didn’t seem to have an answer. Then again, trying to communicate complex things was a little hard when one couldn’t speak. At least without a flood of extra energy to boost your voice into the right dimension. And somehow she looked...tired. Melodia hadn’t known duel spirits could look like that.

After a significant pause to think, Midnight Angel looked at her again, holding up four fingers. “Um...oh, charades? Four words?” A nod, then one finger. “First word.” Midnight Angel then gestured to herself, which was easy to figure out. “You. I.” A nod, and two fingers. “Second word.” Holding her hand up as if to shield it from the sun, Midnight Angel started turning around like she was searching for something. “Uh, looking?” Nod, three fingers. Then 1, then 3. Melodia vaguely knew the actual rules of charades... “Uh, third word, one syllable, three letters.”

Leaning over her, Midnight Angel presented empty hands, as if giving something to her. Melodia ran through all the words she could think of and tried to match one to what she already had. _I’m looking…_

Wait. Four words. Looking.

“...You’re looking...for...Chazz?” she guessed hesitantly.

Dropping her arms with a silent sigh and a not-so-happy smile, Midnight Angel nodded. Once again, she mouthed, _‘Sorry,’_ and this time it made sense. She was apologizing for not being around. For prioritizing something else over her.

“Does Abigail know?”

Midnight Angel nodded. She mimed asking something – “She asked you to?” Another nod. And Melodia couldn’t bring herself to be even a little annoyed, because she’d seen the way Abigail had been growing distant at the start of the week. And now she was sick over it. She’d seemed visibly betrayed back at the cursed dorm when she was talking with Rose Lord.

Melodia had never liked Chazz, not even a little. But he was Abigail’s friend. Abigail was hurting.

Melodia wasn’t going to pretend like her feelings were the only ones that mattered.

“Can you tell Abigail something for me?” Midnight Angel looked a little confused, but nodded. “I just want you to tell her I hope she feels better. And that I’ll punch Chazz for her if I ever get the chance.” Her gaze dropped. “I don’t like him. I’m not gonna lie about that. And she’s put up with me badmouthing and complaining about him since school started. If I’d known they were friends, I would’ve shut up. So maybe I didn’t help this. But he screwed up now and I want her to know that...I’m her friend too. Even if I haven’t really acted like it.”

_“I-”_

Her head whipped up just in time to see Midnight Angel go tense. For a couple of seconds she looked ill, but it passed. Melodia just stared at her.

“Was that you?” she asked cautiously.

It looked like Midnight Angel’s face had flushed with embarrassment. _“...Feel sick,”_ she mumbled quickly, then gave a shudder. She clearly forced herself to continue, _“Want to. Can’t._ _Curse._ _”_ Another shudder, and this time Melodia was afraid she was about to find out if duel spirits could puke.

“H-Hey, no, it’s okay! Don’t force it!” While it hurt, Melodia couldn’t deny she didn’t want Midnight Angel to feel guilty about it. It wasn’t her fault. “You need your energy to find Chazz and keep an eye on Abigail. I’ll be okay. I’ve got Rose Warrior, so stick to what you can do right now, okay?”

Still looking somewhat queasy and immensely sorry, Midnight Angel nodded. She mouthed her words this time, going slowly so Melodia could read her lips. _‘I will_ _give her your message_ _.’_

It was Melodia’s turn to nod. “Just try to pop in once in a while? So I know you’re okay?”

_‘I will.’_

With an exchange of tight smiles, Melodia watched Midnight Angel disappear into her card. A lot of questions had just been answered, even ones Melodia hadn’t realized she had. Midnight Angel was watching Abigail and looking for Chazz, and that’s why she wasn’t around. Being able to hear Rose Lord but not her was given a proper explanation, even if she didn’t have every detail. Maybe it was something about not being a Rose card? There weren’t exactly a pool of spirits Melodia could test this with. And while it was upsetting that Midnight Angel couldn’t physically speak to her...maybe she could speak to Abigail properly, at least. Melodia didn’t know what kind of relationship the spirit had with her, but she hoped it was helping.

She wanted to help too, but...what could she do? ...She’d tried this before, and it didn’t seem to have worked, but...

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **Abigail’s sick. Since Thursday morning.  
** **Tell her you’re okay. I don’t care how. Just let her know you’re alive.  
** **For once in your life, stop being an idiot.**

That was when she saw the messages from Enzo.

 

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **I know your doing that zappy thing rn but I wanted to say this while it’s in my head  
** **I’m bad at this friend thing. It’s not really something I’ve done before and it’s hard. Last year I didn’t really talk to anyone because I didn’t want to risk getting anyone involved with my crap and...how do I put this  
** **I think...you saved me. Not just in the phsyical sense of getting my brothers locked up, but like. At the welcome dinner...I talked to you on a whim. I didn’t actually mean to get involved, but everyone was so into it I got carried away. Even though I knew my brothers would come after me for coming back here. I guess I just wanted one happy moment before they took me home. And then we kept talking and it was so much fun and...I wanted more.  
** **this isn’t like a declaration of love or anything, I swear.  
** **um  
** **related to that  
** **I’m sorry about the dating joke  
** **I’ll stop it  
** **It’s just...hmm  
** **when I first heard it I liked it because it gave me an excuse to spend time with you and goof off. I knew you didn’t like it but I played along anyway and...I did that because I was scared to lose you. I’ve never had friends before. And since you’re leaving to the girls dorm at the half-year mark I was worried if I didn’t do something you’d forget about me.  
** **It’s been almost two months and your still putting up with me. And I wanted to say thank you and that I’ll try harder to get this stuff right. You’re really important to me and I really don’t want to lose you.**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **shit I thought I dreamed I sent all that oh god im sorry that sounds so stupid  
** **fucking naps  
** **um  
** **I mean it tho  
** **especially the part about not playing along with the joke anymore  
** **I shouldn’t hae started at allAH HI**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **Do you remember when we were hiding in the abandoned dorm and I said something like there were only a few perks to being a Farstrike?**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **Yeah**

Melodia breathed in, breathed out, and started typing.

 

**Moon (Melodia):  
** **I wasn’t joking. My brothers suck. Aniko barely acknowledges I exist and Lance has an ego larger than Seto Kaiba’s. I’m lucky if Aniko looks at me or if Lance listens when I talk about anything that isn’t Voltron.** **And while there’s a lot of complicated circumstances going on that caused all that, it hurts a lot all the same.  
** **In fifth and sixth grade my curse showed up...I don’t want to think about it. So in middle school I barely talked to anyone. It was really hard when people were either upset that I was the sister of Lance who helped illegally bring back Voltron, or really eager to be my friend because he helped save the galaxy and why would you want to be on the bad side of someone related to a person like that?  
** **I only had a couple people I talked to in the past few years. I can only think of two of their names, and I really haven’t said anything to them since middle school ended.** **I don’t even remember what we would talk about.  
** **Friends are really hard when your life is full of crap, is what I’m saying. Whether your brothers are actual criminals or just messed up and stupid.  
** **I want to be friends. You make bad jokes and sometimes you go too far with things but I’m not much better. I panic easily and hide from interactions and zap people I care about. I’m scared of losing people too. I get it.  
** **I’m uncomfortable with the rumor and it makes me angry when you play along with it even when I tell you to stop. I can understand your reasoning for it, but I really do want it to be over. I’m way too much of a mess for a relation** **ship, and I don’t like you that way.**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **Can we start over?**

**Moon (Melodia):  
** **Yeah**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **Hi. I’m Enzo and I don’t know how to be friends and I might do weird stuff like climb the dorm and lock-pick windows but you’re cool and I wanna get to know you more.  
** **Also, we’re totally not dating.**

**Moon (Melodia):  
** **You’re a freaking nightmare**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **Did you laugh?**

**Moon (Melodia):  
** **Yeah**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **Really??  
** **I didn’t know you could build friendships off of horrible childhoods**

**Moon (Melodia):  
** **I don’t think that’s the normal way of doing it**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **For once it feels cool to not be normal  
** **Also uh...one more crack about the rumor?**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **...okay**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **What’s our breakup story**

**Moon (Melodia):  
** **I** **got sick of your bad jokes**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **DAMN  
** **Harsh  
** **But fair  
** **Do I have permission to play that up at least? I kind of already had a plan with a blanket cocoon and a series of brokenhearted actions spanning four and a half days for the inevitable moment when you actually threw me off the island**

**Moon (Melodia):  
** **...are you serious**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **...yes?**

**Moon (Melodia):  
** **...** **will it make me look like a bad person?**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **Absolutely not  
Especially with it being my fault since my jokes are so terrible**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **If I tell you to stop before this grand plan of yours is over, will you?**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **Yes.**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **...then it’s okay. For now.**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **The angel of ra smiles upon me with her mercy**

**Moon (Melodia):  
** **I never said I wasn’t still going to throw you into the ocean.**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **I’LL BE GOOD  
** **:(**

**Moon (Melodia):  
** **Hhmmmm  
** **You have to buy me slushies from the campus store until winter break  
** **Twice a week**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **This is with the money I’m getting as allowance from Lance right**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **I hope so because the only alternative I can think of is you’re stealing from other students**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **I have never once picked a pocket  
** **on this island**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **...why did you specify location**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **I don’t want to get kciked out!!  
** **I’m working on it okay  
** **honesty is important right  
** **I will buy you your frozen drinks of “please still be my friend even though my jokes suck”  
** **Um**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **?**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **Thank you  
** **For being my friend**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **Thank you for being mine.  
** **I’ll see you at occult club. Jaden wants to talk to me about something.**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **I’d better hurry and get my cocoon ready then**

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **Pfff**

 **Man of Art (Enzo):  
** **:D**

* * *

“Enzo, why are you curled up in the corner wrapped in a blanket?”

“My heart is in pieces.”

“Ohh, so you finally stopped the joke, gotcha. Are we playing the break-up now?”

“I’ll be a disaster for the next four and a half days.”

“Out of curiosity, how’d she convince you?”

“Even if my heart is crushed I won’t betray her privacy.”

“What the heck are you doing?”

The moment Melodia entered the Occult clubroom, she’d found Enzo and Jaden in the corner calmly chatting about Enzo’s broken heart. She wasn’t sure why he was bothering, since she was pretty sure at least half the club knew it was never an actual thing.

Jaden, ever cheerful, didn’t do much besides laugh. “Apparently you broke his heart but he still cares enough to not tell me how you did it.”

“His jokes are horrific.”

“That makes sense.”

“Hey!”

Smiling a little, Melodia could at least admit that Enzo’s little performance was amusing, which was probably the point. It was distracting, too, and that was nice. She’d spent the rest of the morning and lunch trying to figure out the whole ‘best night’ thing, (thankfully without any more spikes) and by this point she was fairly annoyed about not having an answer. “What was it you wanted to talk about, Jaden?”

“Oh yeah! Come over here a sec.” Jaden led her away from Enzo’s corner of false misery and over to a small table with an Obelisk student, silently shuffling through a book on duel spirits. She recognized him as Koma Shimamura, a year below them, though this was only because she’d been able to associate his name with his hair. He didn’t notice them at first, frowning at the pages in front of him, but before she or Jaden could say anything he looked up with a jolt, staring at something in front of him.

“Hey, Kuriboh, don’t go scaring him,” Jaden admonished. Melodia blinked a few times. Both the boys were looking in the same spot, but there was nothing there. Kuriboh? Jaden had a Winged Kuriboh in his deck...so he _could_ see them. And apparently, so could Koma?

“Koma, Melodia. Melodia, Koma.” Jaden gave hasty introductions, then sat himself down. “And Winged Kuriboh…?” He looked at her expectantly, and it occurred to her then what was going on.

“Oh, um, I-I can only see very specific spirits,” she said sheepishly.

“Midnight Angel?” Koma guessed. She tried not to be surprised – they’d spoken in groups before, but she was pretty sure this was the first time he’d said something to her directly.

In response to his question, she nodded, and somewhat awkwardly took a seat. “Yeah, her and a couple others, though I think those are special cases. Don’t really know if I can explain.”

“I can see a good bit,” Jaden confessed. “Wanted to tell you sooner, but you’ve had stuff goin’ on, and I wasn’t sure you’d believe me...Anyway, Koma sees ‘em too. And uh, we noticed something recently. Hope it’s not a bother, but...”

“Midnight Angel hasn’t been around,” Koma finished. He’d put his book down to give the conversation his full attention, though he still seemed a bit like he wished it wasn’t happening. Melodia could relate – she didn’t like talking to people she barely knew, either. “She’s always hovering around you. Except this week.”

“I wouldn’t say always-” she tried to object.

“I don’t think you can see her most of the time,” Jaden interjected. “She likes to float above you or Abigail during class. I also saw her chasing a frog once.”

“A...frog?”

“We just wanted to make sure everything was okay,” he continued. His usual smile was gone, replaced with worry. “You guys didn’t have a fight or something?”

_Ohh._

Melodia shook her head. “No, no, it’s nothing like that. We’re fine. She’s keeping an eye on Abigail, that’s all. I actually saw her a little bit ago, she came to check on me. Nothing’s wrong.”

Watching her in a way she couldn’t quite read, Koma commented, “It’s weird for people to share a guardian spirit. Especially for a card that’s been out of print so long.”

“Well, I dunno how Abigail got hers, but my copy was a...a present from my brother.” She was still trying to process that. Angela had been very clear on Tuesday, Midnight Angel had been a gift from Aniko for her fourth birthday. She wasn’t entirely sure if she believed it, but really she wasn’t sure if she believed a lot of the things involving Aniko. And she didn’t exactly want to think about it right now. “It was before it went out of print, at least for me.”

Drumming his fingers on the table, Jaden nodded. “Pretty impressive if you ask me. Most people can’t seem to keep a hold on ‘em. There’s been this old rumor going around-”

“They’re not cursed,” she sighed. This was exactly why she didn’t like talking about the card. She’d gotten lucky that Alexis hadn’t brought it up when telling her Abigail had a copy. “It’s likely the cards are just targets for theft because of their out-of-print condition.”

Neither boy seemed impressed or convinced. She rolled her eyes for the second time in five minutes. “And the ones that are found torn up are likely because of idiots who got mad they lost a duel and took it out on the card. Look, I’m not saying curses _don’t_ exist, but I really don’t think a duel spirit would go out stealing and tearing up their own cards.”

“I’ve seen it,” Koma argued. “I tried to buy one last year. When it came in the mail it was in pieces. The person who sent it swore it was perfectly fine when they shipped it out.”

“Someone could’ve intercepted the delivery, or maybe the person you got it from lied. Rumors are caused by people playing them out. I think it was probably started by collectors of rare cards. The less that exist, the more valuable they are. People are pretty messed up sometimes.”

Leaning forward and humming in thought, Jaden frowned at her. “You seem pretty sure about this. Got any proof?”

“Logic and a general distaste for people? But you’re not gonna buy that.” Slumping in her seat, she sighed again. “It’s when you try to publicize them that the problems start happening. I’ve kept it to myself because of these stupid rumors, and nothing’s happened. I didn’t even know Abigail had one ‘til Alexis Rhodes told me.”

“She used to use it all the time,” Koma nodded. “I’d see her flying around almost every night. Now she only ever shows up around you two and Miss Rosenberg, and I don’t think Abigail’s dueled with her more than twice.”

Melodia shook her head. “That might’ve been my fault. I started seeing Midnight Angel this past summer and it freaked me out a little at first. I figured Abigail was just keeping it secret for my sake.”

For once, the boys seemed to accept her answer, though Jaden had to keep pressing. “So it’s the same spirit between both cards?”

She couldn’t do much besides shrug. “Yeah? Is that not normal?”

“Well...I dunno...I just think it’s cool. I think it takes a lot of energy for duel spirits to come over here even halfway, to let people like us see them, so the fact that she’s playing double-time for you and Abigail...” Jaden was the one to shrug this time, giving a sheepish smile. “It’s neat, that’s all.”

As Melodia nodded in response, she noticed Professor Banner seemed to be walking over to them. He raised a hand slightly, definitely making sure he had her attention. His PDA was in his hand.

“Hi Professor Banner,” she offered hesitantly. She knew wasn’t technically supposed to be at these club meetings. He wasn’t going to kick her out, was he? He’d seemed perfectly fine with her visits so far...

Thankfully, he said something entirely unrelated. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but the Chancellor says there’s a visitor for Melodia and Jaden in the library.”

“Someone’s in trouble,” Koma muttered in a singsong tone, smirking at Jaden. He was rewarded with a light punch and a halfhearted glare as Jaden stood, and minus the retaliation, Melodia did the same.

“Who is it?” she asked. Professor Banner checked his screen, but shook his head.

“He didn’t say. Abigail was requested as well, but unless her mother can get the message to her...”

Melodia genuinely couldn’t think of a single person who would want her, Jaden, and Abigail that wasn’t Angela. Jaden seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he looked equally puzzled. Saying quick goodbyes to Koma, who was now grinning at Jaden like he’d been busted for something, they started making their way through the hall.

“Is he always like that?” Melodia found herself asking. She’d seen Koma do things like that once or twice, but only ever from a distance.

“Well, yeah. Usually more. Just how he is,” Jaden shrugged. “So, who d’you think this is, anyway?”

“I really don’t know. Not a lot of people even know I go to school here. My mom, my brothers, a few kids I sat for over the summer, that’s it. And I think we already established we don’t live in the same area, so...I can’t think of any overlap.”

They still hadn’t reached an answer by the time they reached the library. Jaden opened the door with his PDA and they stepped inside, and almost immediately a brown fluffball with wings popped into view and sped excitedly away. Melodia stumbled a bit in surprise. _Wait, isn’t that-?_

“Kuriboh?” Jaden hurried after his spirit, clearly not having expected this either. “Hey, what’s wrong, bud-”

When Jaden’s voice cut off with a startled gasp, Melodia shook her head clear of ‘what the flip’ and rushed over. She found him staring at a man in a beanie, who was quite contentedly petting the suddenly corporeal Winged Kuriboh. She felt like she should recognize him, but it wasn’t clicking.

It was obviously clicking for Jaden, however. “Yugi Muto?” he whispered.

_Yugi Muto?_

The man turned, and though his hair was almost fully hidden by the beanie on his head, the vibrant violet eyes were a dead giveaway. Yugi Muto was standing in the Duel Academy library, smiling and petting Winged Kuriboh like nothing was weird about his presence at all.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your day,” he apologized. “I thought the weekend would be a better time than during your classes.” Winged Kuriboh…she wasn’t sure how to label the noise it made, but it was a noise, and Yugi chuckled at it. “And it’s good to see you’re doing well, of course.”

While Jaden greeted the most famous duelist on the planet with the glee of a small child, Melodia was rooted in place. She’d met Yugi once at one of Aniko’s tournaments. Maybe five years ago? He couldn’t recognize her after five years, right? But he had to know it was her. Why else would she be here? But, why Jaden? It looked like they knew each other. Jaden was saying something about how Winged Kuriboh had been—oh, had Yugi given the card to him? She never would’ve guessed that.

She stiffened further as Yugi turned to her, but there was no recognition in his eyes, just a casual smile. “And you must be Melodia Moon. The girl with the Midnight Angel.”

_What the actual hell is going on here?_

When she didn’t respond, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a card. “She’s a good friend of mine. I was concerned when I felt a sudden panic through her card, so I came to check on her.”

He had a Midnight Angel card. Right there in his hand.

This wasn’t about Aniko at all. She felt her shoulders fall in more relief than she knew was possible. “Uh, h-how did you…?”

“Is everything alright? Nothing’s happened to her?” His smile was faltering, clear concern now showing. “I couldn’t get in touch with Abigail. She’d mentioned you had a copy as well, so I was hoping you might know something.”

Abigail? Yugi Muto knew Abigail? Wait no, reverse that, _Abigail_ knew _Yugi Muto?_ She really didn’t know anything about her at all. Were they just Midnight Angel buddies? It kind of sounded like it...

“Abigail Rosenberg, right?” Unlike her, Jaden had full use of his voice. “She caught a bug on Thursday. Moon says Midnight Angel’s been watching her.”

She managed to nod. “Y-Yeah, I don’t think…it’s much more than that...Did you say you felt her panic through her card?” There were a lot of questions she wanted to ask, but figuring out how the heck he knew something was wrong felt pretty important.

Yugi nodded as Winged Kuriboh hovered happily around his head. “I can talk with duel spirits, forge bonds with them that allow me to find them if they need help. They’re also able to fully cross over to our world in my presence, though that was more of a gift than a natural power.”

Chewing on her lip a moment, not sure if she should say this, Melodia admitted, “I think she’s just tired. Besides watching Abigail, she’s been out looking for a student that left the school. He means a lot to Abigail.”

She was more stunned when Yugi immediately knew who she was talking about. “Chazz Princeton left the island? When did that happen?”

“Monday morning. Professor Banner said he saw him head off on a boat,” Jaden said. “They were friends? Man, no wonder she’s been freaking out. I’d be too if one of my friends just up and left.”

Frowning at the card, Yugi nodded. “I see...that definitely would upset her. Both of them. I was worried that...” He paused, then shook his head. “Well, if Chazz ever comes across a copy of Midnight Angel’s card, she’ll find him then.” His frown twisted to one more of concern, and though he didn’t say anything more, there was definitely _something_ running through his mind.

He knew Abigail, he knew she was friends with Chazz, and he even knew that there were two copies of the card on the island. What was going on here?

“Um, Yugi, if you’re friends with Midnight Angel, can I ask you something?” Jaden seemed to have found something of his own to ponder over. “You wouldn’t happen to know why her cards went out of print or what the whole curse thing is about, would you?”

“That’s...not my place to say...”

“You do know something!”

“I’m...afraid I’ve promised not to tell anyone, Jaden. They were very firm on that.” When Yugi lifted his eyes, they now looked nothing but apologetic. Above his head, Winged Kuriboh looked somewhat dejected, as if it too was carrying whatever heavy secret Yugi wasn’t telling them. “If it’s only a stomach bug and a search, I suppose there’s nothing I can do to help. I’m sorry to have wasted your time.”

Jaden stepped forward to block him before he could try to leave. “Hold on a sec! Okay, so you can’t tell us those things, that’s fine. I just figured it was worth a shot. But you should at least get to see Abigail before you go. You came all this way!”

There was something sad in Yugi’s smile. “She hasn’t responded to anything I’ve sent her this week. If she wanted to see me, she would be here, sick or not.”

“Just give us a bit, we’ll get her. Stay put!” Jaden practically danced away, grabbing Melodia’s arm in the process and ignoring her startled exclamations. Winged Kuriboh took a moment to nuzzle Yugi, then bobbed along and faded from view as the distance grew larger between them.

Jaden didn’t stop until they’d gotten to the hallway, where he let her go just as abruptly as he’d grabbed her. His cheer was gone, replaced by what she could only describe as pure shock. “Oh my god oh my god oh my god-”

“J-Jaden! What the heck-”

“I think Yugi’s her dad,” he hissed out, his eyes wide. Melodia once again found herself frozen in confusion.

“You...what?”

“I think Yugi-”

“I heard what you said!”

Somewhat jittery, Jaden pulled his PDA out from his pocket and stabbed at the screen a few times. When he turned it around to show her, it was one of the many photos Abigail liked to take and share among them all. She didn’t recognize this particular one, but she figured that wasn’t the point here. “It’s her face.”

“Blond bangs, black back, purple eyes. _And adopted.”_

Melodia found that her brain was refusing to compute. “Okay. That happens.”

“Yugi’s got the same hair and eye colors and is old enough to be a dad to someone our age!” Jaden was trying to keep his voice down, even covered his own mouth to quiet himself for a moment. “ _And_ he knows Midnight Angel. The card she won’t explain how she got? That he knows she has and he knows was watching her? This doesn’t feel crazy to you _at all?”_

“I think the entire world would know if Yugi Muto was a dad, Jaden.”

“Not if he wanted to keep it a secret!” he argued. “Hear me out, Abigail was adopted eight years ago, right? Same year Midnight Angel went out of print. Yugi knows both of them, he came all the way out here to check on them.”

He was starting to make sense and it scared her. “So…what? Maybe he is. He probably didn’t want her growing up in his shadow. That’s not our business.”

“But you admit that I could be right.”

“...Fine. _Maybe_ you’re right.”

A muffled voice at their side asked, “And what’ll you do if you’re right?”

Abigail, with her lower face covered with a doodled-on medical mask, wearing her blazer loose over her nightgown and slippers, met their eyes as they turned. Melodia’s mouth felt dry. Jaden miraculously shut up.

“What’ll you do?” Abigail asked again. There were bags under her eyes, and her hair looked less curly and more just neglected. She still managed to look intimidating somehow.

“I told him about Chazz,” Melodia found herself saying. Something told her it was far beyond a simple bad idea to lie right now. Or withhold information at all.

Abigail nodded, just slightly, then turned her gaze to Jaden. He swallowed. “I was just gonna say we should tell you where he is so you can decide if you want to see him before he goes,” he said weakly. As an afterthought, he added, “He seems really worried.”

“I’m sure he is,” she sighed in reply, glancing at the library door. One couldn’t see Yugi from their position, but Melodia could’ve sworn she was definitely looking at him, if only the bookshelves weren’t in the way. “Could one of you let me in? I lost my PDA a few days ago.”

As Melodia moved to unlock the door, Jaden promised, “We won’t tell anyone. Swear it.”

“I know.” For just a moment, Abigail pulled the mask down and gave them a tired smile. Then it was back up, and after a short cough she nodded at them and stepped inside.

A few seconds after, Jaden opened the door again and slipped in after her. Melodia, not sure whether she was trying to stop him or join him, did the same.

“You look terrible,” was what they heard first, Yugi saying it with concern. As they peered around a bookshelf, they saw Abigail shrug at the man.

“I’ve been worse. Sorry to worry you. I dropped my PDA a few days ago.”

“Dropped it? Did it break?”

“No, it just...sank.” They could only see her back, but Abigail clearly shrank in embarrassment. Yugi’s eyebrows jumped.

“You dropped it in the ocean?”

“It was a very emotional moment. I’m waiting for Angela to reprogram another one for me.” Abigail shook her head. “Sorry. You must’ve been freaking out.”

Yugi sighed, reaching over to push a curl from her face. “I’m sorry about Chazz. I know you two are close. You’ll find him, I’m sure.” He gave her a reassuring smile...and Melodia had to admit it looked very fatherly. “This might sound bad, but I’m relieved it’s Chazz and wasn’t what I thought it was.”

Abigail flinched at that. “Oh, gods. I’m sorry. I didn’t think of-”

“No, no, it’s okay. I wanted to be sure first, so neither Kaiba nor Pegasus know. I’m glad to see you’re safe.”

Kaiba? Pegasus? They were in on this too? Melodia hadn’t thought Seto Kaiba would want to do any favors for Yugi...maybe with Abigail, it was different? Maybe the reason Abigail was so sure of things regarding him was that she knew him personally. That was so weird to think about. People just _knowing_ Seto Kaiba.

“I’m fine, really. Just tired. And there’s been a lot of progress on closing gates anyway because of this, so it’s not like I’m doing it for totally selfish reasons.”

“Oh, we’ve noticed, trust me. It’s more than usually happens in a month, that’s part of the reason I was so concerned. Joey was convinced you were going into a work frenzy out of a broken heart.”

“Look, I don’t know what to tell him, no matter what I say he’s convinced I _like_ Chazz and that’s just not happening. Joey’s thoughts are flawed.”

They were all treated to a laugh, which wasn’t rare by any means, but it was definitely different hearing it in person rather than on TV. “His thoughts are flawed? I’m going to have to tell him that one.”

“Please do, maybe it’ll snap him out of it.”

“Or you could? Winter break is coming up in a few weeks. Everyone would love to see you.”

Though Yugi looked hopeful, Abigail shrank again. “Um...there’s actually a lot of Knight stuff going on right now. We’re going to be visiting the archives over break.”

“Ah...” Yugi’s smile faded. “Everything is...alright, on that front? I hope?”

“...Turns out Angela’s ex-and-current boyfriend is a black Knight. And also cursed. Did I mention Moon is also also cursed?”

Yugi’s eyes widened somewhat. “That’s...”

“Oh, and we’ve got names now. Panica sent a pearlholder down through the exchange program and she’s healing the dorm. So now we’ve got Panica and Tegan and their five siblings that I don’t doubt she’ll also be able to name if anyone asks.” From what Melodia could see, it looked like Abigail was hugging herself. She sounded conflicted.

“Isn’t that good? The others can learn more about the Knights with that information, and with the dorm being cleansed there’s far less danger for everyone.”

“Yeah, but-” Abigail tugged at her hair, pausing for a moment. “She mentioned how Knights shifted from spirits to humans, and I sort of blurted out what happened with the spirit gates and the shadow games. I had to blame it on Rose Lord.” More tugging, and an angry sigh. “She didn’t even mention the games, I just...I’m tired.” The crack that hit her voice was evidence enough of that. “Sometimes it really sucks knowing everything. I don’t know how much I can keep brushing off with ‘blue rose’.”

Yugi’s eyes softened, and he gently pulled her hand away from her hair. “It’s always hard when you have the answers and can’t share them without hurting things,” he agreed. “And I understand why you’re hiding the truth, but...one day they’re going to find out. You have to be careful with how much you hide, or they may not be as forgiving as you might wish they’d be.”

Her hand now trapped in Yugi’s, Abigail turned her head away from him. It was thankfully in the opposite direction of Melodia and Jaden, who were growing more and more baffled with every second that passed. “I know. I-I will tell them. When I’m sure they’re safe. They’ll understand.”

“How many are left?”

“A hundred seventy...no, eighty-two. I think it should only take a couple more years if we’re lucky.”

“It can be done faster if you let me tell my friends. Please, angel, they’ll be more than happy to help.”

Pulling her hand away, Abigail drew it in and hugged herself again, shuffling away a bit and not looking at him. “I...I don’t know. I don’t want them to risk getting caught, or getting in trouble… And it’s not their responsibility. It’s mine.”

“The sooner they’re claimed or destroyed, the better off our world will be. You said so yourself.” Yugi stepped over to join her, putting an arm around her shoulder. “And the sooner you’ll be able to enjoy your life. To focus on being a Knight instead of all this. Isn’t that why we found Angela in the first place?”

They couldn’t hear Abigail’s answer, if she gave one. She did lean into the hug, and at that point Melodia no longer felt right eavesdropping. She was surprised at herself for doing it in the first place. As quietly as she could, she backtracked to the door, Jaden now the one following her. They fled down the hall in silence.

By the time they reached the stairs, Jaden looked like he had far more on his mind than spazzing over his classmate being Yugi’s daughter. “So...what the heck was...”

Melodia shook her head, staring off into the distance. “I...I guess Yugi’s in on the whole Knight thing. And he and Abigail are trying to...clean something up? He didn’t even blink when she mentioned the gods. He must’ve already known—maybe he’s the one that told Abigail?”

“I didn’t even know there _were_ gods involved in this besides your flower one,” Jaden reminded her softly. “But... In threat of you glaring at me...I have a theory.”

“...What?”

“Do you think that ‘hundred-eighty-two’ they need to ‘claim or destroy’ might just be the Midnight Angel cards? Closing the gates? Stopping them from coming through? And if _Pegasus and Seto Kaiba_ are in on it too...”

Oh, no, he was making sense again. “That could explain why they went out of print,” she groaned. “Why would they be trying to keep Midnight Angel spirits from coming through, though? Or...is it just the one we know? How do duel spirits work with duplicates?”

“I dunno! Maybe they’re – or she’s – dangerous? I can’t see Yugi doing something like this without a good reason. And he definitely _knows_ something, so maybe he didn’t wanna tell us because he’d have to mention Abigail! How this is somehow her ‘responsibility’.”

“...You know we can’t tell anyone about this.”

“ _Argh,_ I know. This is gonna suck. What do we even say when they ask who wanted to see us?”

“I don’t suppose we could give you an imaginary relative that wouldn’t contradict anything you’ve said about your family?”

Rubbing at his hair, Jaden frowned at the floor. “I could make up a cousin. Doesn’t explain why they wanted you and Abigail, though.”

“Maybe they’re looking into the Midnight Angel curse?”

“Maybe. Let’s just try to skirt around it for now. Knowing Abigail, she’d be able to spin up five different stories that all make no sense but stop people from asking. She seems to be really good at that.” He groaned, clearly unhappy with how things had turned out. “Man, if I could just meet him once without being in a hurry or learning deep dark secrets, that would be _great._ Y’know?”

Melodia nodded. She felt worn out, too. While grateful that Yugi hadn’t recognized her, the meeting was still very tiring. “Well...I’d say it’s time for a dumb distraction. What can we do that won’t make us think about Yugi, Midnight Angel, or Abigail?”

They stood there for a while, thinking, before Jaden offered, “You wanna go to the cooking club and see how many marshmallows I can fit in my mouth?”

“What?”

“You said dumb! We can say hi to Beauregard and get some free snacks, too.”

Putting a hand to her face, Melodia found she couldn’t help but smile. “Okay, fine. That’s preferable to going back into occult with Enzo.”

“Am I ever gonna hear _why_ he was pulling that?”

“Because he’s an idiot. Let’s go, I bet you can’t get ten.”

“Oh, I bet I can get at _least_ fifteen! And if I do you have to dye your ponytail totally red!”

“Okay, but if you can’t, _you_ have to spend three days saying nothing but ‘Kuri-kuri’.”

“As a Kuriboi, I accept your challenge!”

 

 

* * *

 

Koma Shimamura! A friend of mine made him to cameo here~

He might show up again in the future, if the need ever arises for another spirit-seeing person.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not pictured: Jaden choking and acting like a sick Kuriboh for the next three days while everyone assumes he just did something stupid again  
> They would be 100% correct


	13. Chapter 5 1/2: Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I can explain the funky chapter name and...all of this.
> 
> I really, really liked this scene when I wrote it. And I still do. But it hasn't been fitting right anywhere, so I wasn't sure what to do.  
> I decided to post it on its own. It's important to how I want the story to go, so here it is!  
>  **This takes place two days after the first scene of chapter 5 (Moonlit Garden), during the four day time skip.**
> 
> As for the next full chapter...I don't know when that'll be up. There's so much about it that I'm just not happy with. I think I'm just going to scrap it and start again, this time I have a better idea of how I want it to go. So hopefully that'll be up sometime in December!

**November** **5**

“Can I ask you a personal question, Angela?”

“I definitely owe you at least one considering you had to deal with Demonica instead of dorking around at the Halloween party like a normal teenager, so go for it.”

She wasn’t surprised Dia had come to her room after what had happened. Actually, she’d expected it sooner, but with her lack of voice first and then her overload at the practical exam...well, maybe part of her had hoped Dia would forget.

“Do you think of yourself as Angela or Monica?”

Ah, yup. There it was.

“Silvio probably said something about being worried I was subconsciously becoming a different person through ‘Angela’ to distance myself from the memories of the attack, huh?”

“...Something like that.”

“Well, that’s a fair concern. I’ll admit my sister was worried about that too for a while. Angela’s just a name and an act, though.”

“You’re sure?”

“I promise.” Monica turned in her desk chair and gave Dia a reassuring smile. “It’s a frustrating story though, and I don’t really want to get into it. What else did the old guy whine about, huh?”

From her seat on the bed, Dia nervously intertwined her fingers before answering. “You’re not just cursed. You’re ‘Withering’.”

“Yeah. Since Lynn’s funeral. I’m supposed to be a red rose.”

“So...”

“My only remaining power is flame divination. My only remaining card is my trap, Brambles. Which is what all rose traps become if a Knight is cursed.” Monica sighed. “Things are...kind of fuzzy. I don’t think I could tell you what my cards were.”

“...He said you don’t have a lot of time left.”

Monica twitched. She couldn’t look at Dia. When she answered, it sounded hollow even to her. “Probably not. Can we not talk about this? It gets the curse’s attention.” _It scares me._

Dia nodded, and for a minute or so they just sat there in silence. Monica hoped she’d leave to go discharge soon, but apparently they weren’t done here yet.

“Abigail said I have the same curse as you. Neither of you said anything about it because you didn’t want to scare me.”

“...Yeah. I’m sorry. You deserved to know that and I...” Monica still couldn’t look at her, preferring to keep her eyes locked onto the door. “It’s hard. To actively teach about this stuff. My sister helped a lot with Abigail, but...”

“...But I remind you of Lynn?”

It hurt to lie. It hurt to have this conversation, to see his concern mirrored in his little sister. It hurt to keep this secret, but if Dia spiked too high too many times, the curse could take full hold, and then Monica would have failed both siblings. “Yeah.”

She was supposed to be watching over Dia. Teaching her. Guiding her. All she’d done so far was show her how to keep the curse at bay without actually telling her what it was.

It was no surprise that her rose had yet to regain its brightness. Monica was not the Knight she used to be before the fire. Before Lynn died. Before Aniko was ripped away from everything in a struggle to keep himself from hurting them. Monica was a scared, silent liar, and she knew she had to do better. Dia and Abigail deserved better than what she’d been giving them.

“I’ll do better.” The words were out of her mouth before she realized it. Now she was biting her lip, hoping Dia couldn’t read her guilt or the masses of pain hiding inside her. “I’m sorry.”

Dia was staring at the floor just as much as Monica was staring at the door, peripheral vision told her that. “I know I’m a mess. And that...I probably make you think of things that hurt. But...Abigail taught me more about the Knights in one day than you did since we met, and that...bothers me. I know...you’re probably trying to protect me from a lot of things...because you don’t want me to go through what you do as Demonica. But I can’t be a good Knight if I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing.”

Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Monica nodded. She couldn’t speak, and she didn’t know what she’d say anyway. Dia had caught it all perfectly.

“...Can I ask one more thing, and then I’ll go?”

All Monica could do was nod again.

“Is there...a reason you didn’t tell me about Abigail when I was babysitting Milly?”

The lump was now accompanied by tears, and Monica did her best to blink past them. It took her a great effort to answer, even though the question was harmless. “Abigail’s bad at being subtle, and she could’ve talked about the roses before you were stable enough for it. I...just thought it should wait. Until you were less likely to...”

“...Yeah. That makes sense. Um...thanks.”

“...Yeah.”


	14. Chapter 11: Warmth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter.
> 
>  
> 
> _Sweet Tegan, this chapter was a journey._
> 
>  
> 
> My first attempts at this chapter began in the beginning of August. I couldn't get them to work. I scrapped two or three beginning drafts and got stuck for a while.  
> I changed the POV and eventually finished the chapter. Couldn't figure out an image for it. Eventually looked back on it and decided "Y'know what? I don't like this."  
> So I kept it as notes and started re-writing it, same basic idea, but this time I didn't try to work on it all the time. I posted the little half chapter during this. And then six days ago I finished this chapter again.  
> I love it. I absolutely completely love it, and even if it took me almost five months, I'm so, _so_ glad with what's finally come out of it.  
> Even better, I had the chapter art done the day after! And now I'm making decent, nice, slow progress on chapter 12.
> 
> I can't begin to describe how much it means to me that I'm finding this story again. It's something really close to my heart, and the thought of losing it a second time, after picking it up again after so many years, was incredibly scary. But here it is. And I'm so, so happy.

 

“Abi? ...Abi, open the door. Please.”

It had been a week now. Monica tried every day, but Abigail refused to leave her room. She wouldn’t even answer. But she had to be in the room, the other girls had all said they weren’t seeing her except briefly during meals. She’d already checked the cursed dorm, in case Abigail had turned her hiding a bit more drastic.

Well, no. Drastic would be shadow-jumping all the way home. Monica...really hoped Abigail hadn’t done that. Though that would explain how she’d gotten sick the first half of this “hiding from the world” week.

Monica knew she was struggling. Abigail had been friends/rivals with Chazz since the first month of middle school. While they may not have ever interacted off the island, the pompous little brat was important to her daughter. He’d been one of the first to acknowledge her, the first to duel her. Abigail had told her that much. Monica was sure she was missing some details, but to lose someone like that without warning…

She could certainly relate.

Knocking again, Monica briefly contemplated going to Fonda and asking for the master key when she heard the lock turn. Relief washing over her, she stepped back a little as the door opened.

Abigail didn’t look _completely_ like shit, at least. Shadows were under her eyes, her hair was shoved into pigtails to look slightly less of a disaster, (it wasn’t working) and there was a stain that looked suspiciously like mint ice cream on the front of her nightgown. She looked a strange mix of exhausted and determined. Along with this, she was holding papers that were clearly her homework, and it looked like there was a paused class recording on her computer screen. The cut on her face from Dia’s spike a couple of weeks ago was healing quickly, almost gone in fact, so she wasn’t bothering to hide it anymore.

Before Monica could speak, Abigail beat her to it. Her voice was as tired as its owner. “Unless you’re here to give me my new PDA, could you please leave me alone?”

Biting her lip, Monica gave her daughter a long, worried look. She did have the PDA, but she also had the feeling that if she handed it over, Abigail would simply disappear back behind the locked door. It was good she was keeping up with her classwork, but how much of that was for the distraction rather than actually caring? A lot, Monica would be willing to bet.

“I respect your decision to act like a teenager for probably the first time ever,” she said at last, “but I’m also really tired of you acting like a teenager for the first time ever.”

“I am a teenager.” The response was still tired, but also held an unexpected bite. Abigail was no longer looking at her; her eyes were directed in a light glare at the side of the door frame.

“And I understand that, I’ve been there. And not that long ago, either. But, at least from what I know about what’s going on, this seems...excessive.” Monica wouldn’t deny that she didn’t know everything. Abigail had a lot of trouble communicating her problems. Or in general, really.

Abigail shrugged dismissively, her gaze not lifting. “From what you know, yeah.”

“So are you going to tell me more so I can understand why this is affecting you so badly?” She tried to keep her tone gentle. It seemed like Abigail was regressing in her personality, turning back into the quiet, scared little girl she’d met eight years ago. It did more than worry her. It disturbed her. She’d come so far since entering Duel Academy, and now it was disappearing in the span of a week because of one crappy kid.

Monica hadn’t wanted to sock a teenager in the face since high school. The temptation now was far stronger.

The only acknowledgment Abigail gave to her question was drawing her arms up around herself in a tight self-hug, somewhat crinkling her homework pages in the process. Then she stepped aside, just staring at the floor, swallowing nervously. Monica realized after a few seconds that it was a silent invitation to enter.

Abigail’s room was somewhat dark, the lights on a dimmer setting than normal. It was a little difficult for Monica to make things out, but she supposed if you had night vision, the difference wouldn’t be noticed. It did, however, only increase the weight in her gut. Abigail only hid in the dark for serious issues. She said the shadows calmed her, due to her Rose abilities.

With the lights dimmed as they were, Monica could easily see the hovering shimmers of duel spirits scattered across the room. There had to be seven of them at least, mostly near the walls, one perched on her bed. The smallest of them was darting around on the floor like a cat chasing a laser pointer. If she had to guess, it was probably NightLight, the miniature unicorn spirit that Abigail seemed to treat as a pet. The others...she would assume Rose Lord and Midnight Angel, but for the remaining four she was clueless. She hadn’t looked at the deck since giving it to Abigail eight years ago. Hadn’t ever used it herself in the two years she’d had it before then.

“If any of you are spirits that are particularly sensitive to my curse,” Monica warned preemptively, “it might be better to leave for a bit.”

Though none of them could answer her – even if her corrupted Knight state let her see their presence, her curse made actual communication impossible – she saw four spirits disappear. The one on the bed remained, as did the presumed Nightlight, which was now hopping onto the table in the middle of the room. The third was at the window, its glow reflecting off the crystals that Abigail hung to catch the starlight and its ‘calming properties’.

After closing her door and dropping her papers on the table, Abigail sat on her bed and leaned against the spirit that was there. It looked odd to Monica, her daughter propped up against a human-sized cloud of glowing particles. Part of her wondered which one it was – Rose Lord or Midnight Angel. They had to be the two left. Abigail was more attached to them than any of her other cards, which made sense. Her Rose card and the spirit that had been with her since before she and Monica had met.

With the help of the glowing spirits, Monica was able to make her way to the bench that served as the desk seat. She carefully picked it up and brought it over to the bed, not wanting to disturb whatever comfort Abigail was already getting, but still preferring to stay close herself. “So...why don’t we start with a number? How many things are bothering you, that you’re willing to talk about right now?” Even if one of the reasons was Chazz, it didn’t feel like that was enough to cause all of this. Not unless there was something going on between the two teens she didn’t know about…

No, not Chazz Princeton. His ego wouldn’t allow a relationship. She supposed it didn’t have to be reciprocated, though. _Oh, please don’t let this be a broken heart because your crush left._

Abigail seemed to have trouble forming words, but she was able to get out a few after working at it a bit. “Two. And one...not-problem.”

Okay. Two big things that made one even bigger thing, and one not-problem. That was better than a collection or even one massive thing. “So I can guess what one problem is...and if you feel like you can’t talk about that one yet, that’s fine. Maybe we could talk about the not-problem first.”

There was an almost involuntary noisy breath that came from her daughter, and she briefly covered her face with a hand. Then her fingers curled in, and she slowly pulled it down again. It still took some effort for her to speak, but not as much as before. “Saturday. My visitor.”

When Abigail paused, Monica nodded for her to continue. She had a suspicion about who it was, though she hadn’t been able to figure out why Dia and Jaden Yuki had been called as well.

“...Midnight Angel told...my dad. That I wasn’t doing well. So...he snuck in to see me.”

Her theory confirmed, Monica silently sent a mental thanks to Yugi, who seemed to always know exactly when he needed to intervene. “You haven’t seen him since August. He’s been busy trying to figure out something with Pegasus this year, right?”

Abigail nodded. “The Midnight Angel thing.”

The Midnight Angel thing. The way they mysteriously went out of print with no warning eight years ago. The stealing, destruction, and mutilation of the cards that no one could make sense of. Of course Monica knew about it, her daughter owned one.

Her daughter took the Midnight Angel thing just as seriously as Yugi and Pegasus did. Of course Monica knew.

“So did they make any progress?”

The pause was a little too long. “No.”

“...Abi. He asked for Dia too. And that Jaden kid. He must’ve had at least some idea if he was willing to bring it up to them.” Public figures like Yugi couldn’t exactly acknowledge the problem, or there would be confusion and panic and anger. Not everyone was accepting of the idea that duel spirits were real, regardless of all the strange appearances of them around twenty years ago.

Much like her mother had a habit of, Abigail chewed on her lip before she spoke again. This time she managed larger, fuller sentences; Monica figured the spirit at her side may have said something. “He didn’t tell them anything. He wanted to see Moon because Midnight Angel told him she was watching her, like she watches me. He wanted to see Jaden because...I think he said, um, he saw something about him that was intriguing. Jaden got that Winged Kuriboh from him before school started.”

Monica made herself breathe a bit before she answered. “Okay. But I still think he found something. And he told you, and it’s maybe not a problem, but it’s still something.”

All she saw on Abigail’s face now was tired conflict, like she was fighting with herself about whether to say anything or not. Monica felt like she always saw a face like this when they talked about the Midnight Angel thing. She always felt like Abigail was truly, definitely hiding something about it.

Monica could never figure out if she was hiding it to not upset her and risk Demonica, or because she didn’t trust her with it.

“I’m-” For a moment it seemed like Abigail regretted the single word, shutting her eyes and pulling her face into a look of contained fear. Then she swallowed, and her next words sounded hollow. “I’ve been lying to you.”

Monica tried to ignore the twitch in her head, the little voice that whispered ‘ _There it is. She admitted it. She’s been keeping secrets after everything you’ve done for her.’_ It was hard; Demonica had gotten stronger after the Halloween incident. “About...the Midnight Angel thing?”

There was another pause, another moment where Abigail could take it back and clam up again. “We know what’s happening. We always have. It-...” She couldn’t seem to bring herself to finish, so she leaned forward to bury her face in her hands instead. There was a quiet murmur of ‘I’m sorry’.

Something stung inside Monica’s chest, a mix of curse and genuine hurt, and it was impossible to tell which was more prominent. Stronger, however, was the urge to reassure her daughter, and she reached out to gently touch Abigail’s arm. “Hey. Look. I know you don’t tell me everything. And...yeah, that kinda hurts sometimes. But if this is something you’re really, genuinely uncomfortable sharing, you don’t have to tell me. I know you and your dad have secrets, and those aren’t any of my business.” ‘ _Even if_ _you’re_ _supposed to be_ _her_ _mom. Even if_ _you’re_ _the one_ _she’s_ _lived with for six years. Even if_ _you_ _want to know.’_

Monica had never lied to herself about how she felt about Yugi. Jealous. Jealous that he had a connection to Abigail she would probably never understand, and never be able to duplicate. It was one of the easiest things for the curse to latch on to.

But ‘Angela’ didn’t get jealous.

Shaking her head, Abigail swallowed again. There were a few shaky breaths, and then her voice made its return, rough with the threat of tears. “I didn’t want to lie. There’s a rule. I’m not supposed to tell anyone. My dad said they were thinking about lifting it for me.”

There were a lot of ways Monica felt about that, but she kept them to herself. “Then it’s not your fault, and I’m not going to be upset with you. Whatever’s going on with you and Yugi and those spirits, I know it’s important to you, and...maybe I don’t understand exactly why, but you know I’ll support you whatever it is.”

There was a shaky, forced nod, and that was it. Monica leaned forward to rub Abigail’s shoulder, and neither of them spoke for a minute or two.

There was no warning before Abigail started talking again, and Monica could not have been prepared for what she said even if she’d tried. “I’ve been giving Midnight Angel power to look for Chazz.”

Monica couldn’t come up with an answer that was more than, “What?”

Tension was finally starting to leave Abigail’s body. Her hands left her face; her arms folded together in front of her chest instead. “That’s why I got sick. I kinda screwed it up at first, gave too much. We had to do a weird balancing act to fix it.”

“Ab-” Monica gripped her daughter’s shoulder, trying to figure out why in the world she’d thought that was a good idea. “Abigail, that’s _dangerous._ Just because you _can_ do all this blue rose stuff doesn’t mean you _should._ ”

“I know,” Abigail shot back, before cringing. Softer, she repeated, “I know. But I was angry. And...scared.”

Monica watched Abigail’s let hand drift to grab her right forearm, where the twisting stem of her mark was printed. “What if he’s hurt?” she whispered, guilty fear dancing in her eyes. “Or—Or is it my fault? Did I do something wrong?”

“Abigail, why would-”

The tears were finally starting to run down her face, thin streams brought out as her breathing grew heavier. “He didn’t even say goodbye. I-I thought we were friends and—and he just—he just-”

Shifting from the bench to the bed in an instant, Monica pulled Abigail into her arms. She shoved down the wave of anger that was starting to rise – not from the curse, but from her, plain and simple. “Abi, no, it’s not your fault. Hey. He’s been acting even more like a jerk since this school year started, and that has nothing to do with you. That’s all on him. His problems are not because of you, and I know that because you would never try to hurt him. You’d never want to.”

This wasn’t an issue of teenage romance. That was clear to Monica now.

Abigail couldn’t speak now, having trouble even breathing properly through the sobs that shook through her. Monica held her as tightly as she dared, feeling the curse reaching out to her, and being too angry to properly push it back. It hovered near the front of her mind, waiting for just one more thing to let it cross the line. She could feel the tug of her hair as it started waking up, but for Abigail, _for her daughter who needed her right now,_ she gritted her teeth. She set up the best wobbly mental barrier she was capable of. It would get her through the hour. That was good enough.

“I can’t promise that I won’t leave you, because we both know that’s a lie. But I can promise that I’ll tell you. And that you won’t be alone when it happens. I won’t do what she did. That’s something I _can_ promise, with every speck of my soul.”

There was no response, and Monica hadn’t expected one. With Abigail buried in her arms, she sat there; for how long she didn’t know, and she didn’t care. She held her until she was able to stop crying. That was the only thing she needed to think about right now.

* * *

It took some coaxing, but Monica was able to convince Abigail to get herself cleaned up and walk around a little. She didn’t leave the dorm, but it was still progress. There was even a smile when Monica redid her pigtails in her freshly-washed hair.

After handing over Abigail’s new PDA, Monica had to retreat for a while. She needed her coat, needed to be alone so she could calm Demonica. Abigail understood. As Monica left, she was sure that a crowd of spirits had appeared around Abigail. She was glad her daughter had that support.

Abigail said, “Come back later so we can talk about the other thing, Mom,” and that was the only support Monica needed. ‘Mom’ was rare, ‘Mom’ was like their little signal that they were there for each other, that Abigail trusted her.

Yes. Abigail trusted her. That didn’t mean she wasn’t allowed to keep secrets, no matter what the curse said.

The walk to the Ra dorm only became difficult as she reached the pavilion. Holes had been poked in her mental barrier, and her hair – the two pieces that came alive, the pieces she called ‘wilted leaves’ because they were the curse and her Withering wrapped into one – was starting to fight to break free from her metal hairband. Her anger, the anger at Chazz and at the woman who had _dared_ abandon Abigail, was starting to give her a headache as it was prodded and shoved around, growing as if it were a plant that Dia had zapped.

It was increasingly hard to hold in the thorny electricity as she forced herself through the dorm. Her breathing felt shaky.

She just had to get the coat. Lock the door. Breathe. She could get through this without losing it.

She fumbled with her bedroom door a little longer than she would’ve liked. Locking it again was somehow harder. The key ended up on the floor, along with her hairband as the wilted leaves finally pushed it down far enough for gravity to do the rest. Everything looked sharp and too colorful.

She breathed. _Get the coat._

Still relatively tame, the wilted leaves extended across the room, responding to her thought. The cherry-red coat she left carefully hung up by the bed was retrieved. Even though the shaking had taken over her whole body by now, she was able to shrug off her teacher’s jacket, and it dropped to the floor. Once the coat was delivered she pushed her arms into the sleeves and crouched to the floor, pulling it tight around her. Now without orders, the wilted leaves hovered around freely, not yet interested in causing trouble.

Monica had to make sure it stayed that way. The more she spiked, the less time she had, and she’d promised herself she would make it through the school year. For Abigail, for Dia, for Milly. For Aniko.

For Lynn.

She breathed.

From the small pocket on the inside of her coat, Monica pulled out the little Balton voice recorder that was always hiding within. Adjusting her position, pressing her back against her bed, easing herself from a crouch to a sit, she breathed again. She hit the playback button.

Aniko’s voice was always strong than Demonica’s.

“Hey. Uh...I don’t really know how to do this. Not sure how long I can keep Sparky at bay, either. But I can’t just—you spent six years on that fucking piano, you-you didn’t even know if you’d ever see me again and you still...Gods. I missed you. I missed you, ‘nica, so much.”

His words were choked, pained, hollow. Emotions the public hadn’t heard, by that point, in seven years. They were still fully unaware. Aniko’s voice was something only she’d heard since then.

Maybe it was selfish, maybe it was Demonica, but a part of her wanted it to stay that way. She had something of him no one else did. It felt precious.

“I can’t make anything special. I can’t—I can’t make anything at all. I’d give you your cards back, but your curse would leap on that in a heartbeat. Sparky would...gods, I don’t know. I can’t even retire. This stupid game’s the only thing that keeps the damn thing from blowing every fuse in whatever country I’m in. I can barely stand it anymore.”

A shaky breath. He was crying. For the past three years, Monica had been able to picture it effortlessly. She knew what it felt like. Or at least, she thought she did. Demonica was usually asleep. Sparky was almost always awake.

When Aniko was the one in charge, and he wasn’t distracted by the piano, he was a wreck.

“This is all I can do. A stupid outfit. It—the curse is alive, it’s like its own person. It’s—It’s uh, I’ve found it’s better to treat it like that. It’s part of you, but it’s not _you._ ” His voice dropped in volume, barely picked up. “Gods, that sounds stupid. Fuck.”

A huff escaped her mouth. Even if he’d been trying to be serious, she always found that part funny. He was still in there. Still a dork.

When he’d had a moment to get back on track, Aniko’s voice was at a normal volume again. “I call mine Sparky. Because I suck at names. It likes my dueling outfit, it—I dunno, I guess it calms it or something. That’s why I wear it so much. So I wanted to, to, to uh...” A breath to calm himself, to find his words. “I wanted to see if...no, what I mean is, I thought it might do the same for you. Name it. Give it something of its own. But don’t let it have the clothes when it’s not active, because then it gets spoiled and feels entitled, and you’ll find yourself losing more battles against it than you win.”

Monica was nodding, the recorder pressed against her forehead. She’d been careful. Her life was a mess, but that didn’t mean she’d let it become a disaster. The coat was for half-awake. Everything was for when she took a full backseat. There was a system, and it was a system that Demonica didn’t seem to fight too much.

Ma’creyt had said the same thing, about the curse being alive. Sentient as she’d put it. _Really, props for fighting it so long, that’s pretty impressive._

However Ma’creyt’s magic worked, or Panica’s magic, or whatever, she knew things. She knew Monica had been cursed for a long time, and in the conversations they’d had since that first meeting, she also knew that time was running out. But there was nothing she could do. The Thorn Curse was made by two gods, tangled up magic, that had attached itself to their...to Tegan’s chosen. Adding magic from a fourth god, purification or not, wasn’t a good idea.

Four gods. Seven, she’d said. It was so much to process. Too much.

She’d missed part of the message. It took her a few seconds to rewind. Behind her, it felt like the wilted leaves were trying to rip her blanket, but they weren’t as volatile as they could be.

“There’s so much I need to tell you. Things I’ve learned about the curse, and how to cope with it, how to survive. But most importantly, I need you to know that I don’t blame you. None of this is your fault. It’s mine. I’m—I’m the one that asked t—no, that _begged_ you, forced you, to invite me. I bounce between relief and regret almost every day. It’s my fault. But...But if I, if I hadn’t been there...I know you wouldn’t be here anymore.”

He was fully crying now. Monica was starting to feel tears build up in her own eyes. It wasn’t his fault, she didn’t _want_ it to be his fault. He’d suffered enough. He’d gone through more pain from the curse than her. She wanted to take the blame this time.

She’d said yes. She’d given in. She’d told him this for three years, but he still didn’t believe her.

“I couldn’t live up to it. I tried and I failed. It hurt you, it hurt Dia, it...it killed Lynn. But it kept you alive. It kept—It gave me hope. I never stopped hoping. I never stopped looking for a way to fix it. I’m trying. I don’t want to lose you again, I just got you back.”

From three years of hearing this message, of memorizing it, Monica spoke the end with him. His voice was cracking and raw; hers was rough and low. _“_ _Fuck those seven years. I love you too much to lose you again. If there’s—if there’s a way to fix, I’ll find it. I love you.”_

The message ended. Monica sat there, curled up, the recorder pressed so close to her forehead she was likely to leave a mark. She let the tears come – the tears of anger from what had happened to Abigail, the tears of pain from hearing Aniko’s brokenness, the tears of so many feelings for so many reasons.

Demonica didn’t like tears. There was a spit of _‘_ _ **Weak**_ _’_ as she pulled herself back into the recesses of their mind, too disgusted to want to be awake any longer.

If being weak was what kept her from losing control, Monica would wear it like a medal.

* * *

Lunch had come and gone by the time Demonica had closed her door and the wilted leaves had gone back to sleep. Her blanket hadn’t escaped unscathed. After she hung Demonica’s coat back up, the recorder inside where it belonged, Monica started gathering the fabric up to take to Dorothy to mend. Again.

She usually managed to keep the one blanket throughout the year. This one, however, didn’t seem it would last to half.

Holding the Balton hairband, designed to make her curse sleep more, to keep the wilted leaves in check, Monica ended up staring at herself in the mirror for a while without putting her hair back up. She just ran her thumb across the metal, unable to take her eyes off her arm’s reflection.

Her mark was dying.

From just looking at her forearm, one couldn’t tell. It just appeared to have a thicker, sharper stem. But past the elbow, where the seed first appeared, it erupted into thorny roots, brown and tangled. In the past ten years it had slowly crept up her arm, its size increasing as the curse sunk deeper and deeper into her mind. It had slowed to a millimeter crawl three years ago, after finishing the piano, after finding Aniko, after getting all his advice.

It was up to her shoulder now. She actually saw it shift, settling into the new length it had acquired from the spike she’d just gotten out of. Monica didn’t realize she was biting her lip until it started to hurt.

She wasn’t sure how big it had to be to be her end. The bigger the spike, the more it grew, she knew that. After Halloween it was always the worst. The anniversary. The memories. This one had been no different – though thankfully it had been no worse, either. On Halloween it didn’t matter if Demonica came out. Her guilt let it grow all on its own.

She knew Aniko’s was worse. Much, much worse. Then again, it couldn’t swallow him. Couldn’t end him. His rose was trapped under the thorns, not within them.

His rose was black. It held only one power – prevention of death.

It was meant to provide the bearer with safety as they tried to prove themselves worthy, so they could stay with the Knights, take the trials again when they felt ready. In Aniko’s case, it was the only reason he was still alive, buried as he was within the thorns. Try as it might, the curse would never be able to fully choke him out.

...She hoped.

Monica took a moment to do nothing but breathe, because breathing was the key to staying calm. After that, she set the hairband down and picked up her hairbrush instead. She started gathering her hair back together, collecting it in her hand. When there was nothing left to collect, she swapped the objects again and shifted the part of the hairband that allowed it to open, like a two-ended claw. It closed around her hair, beeped, and tightened itself to fit snugly.

In her reflection, she looked at her teacher’s jacket, still on the floor behind her. She let her gaze flick to her face. Normal, sad, tired green eyes looked back at her.

As long as they stayed green, she still had a chance.

Retrieving her jacket and pulling it back on, Monica sat on her bed for about a minute, just thinking about nothing. Staring blankly at the floor, letting time waste away.

She sighed. It was a good idea to get something to eat, and find out what Abigail’s problem number two was. It was an achievable goal for the day. Stay calm. Take care of Abigail. Take care of herself.

Staying in the Ra dorm, she’d found Loreto tended to leave the meal leftovers in the kitchen for himself – he was the one to make it, after all, so there was no reason for it to go to waste. Monica put a plate together for herself, made sure Dorothy had gotten her message about the blanket (now sitting in the lobby at the snack bar), then began to make her way back to the girls’ dorm. It was a quiet walk. She continued not to think. After a spike, it was easy. Her mind was simply too tired for thought.

With everyone in class, there were no obstacles but distance. She actually found Abigail doing the same as her, collecting leftovers, though her plate was more of a pile than anything else. Monica had no idea how she could eat that much and not show it. Damn teenagers.

Neither of them spoke as they returned to Abigail’s room. The lights were at their normal highest setting, and there didn’t seem to be any spirits this time. They sat on the floor at the table. After setting her plate down, Abigail moved Midnight Angel’s card stand and the folded black bandana beneath it to her desk. She’d cleaned up her paper mess already.

Abigail asked that they eat before they started talking, so she could finish collecting her words. Monica knew it wasn’t that – Abigail knew she’d spiked. She wanted her to eat and get some energy back before she threw anything her way. That was a lie Monica understood.

It wasn’t like she was completely honest with Abigail, either. Or with anyone for that matter. Calling her daughter out would just make her a hypocrite.

When her plate was empty, Monica’s mind was settled again. She waited for Abigail to finish, part of her trying to guess what this was about, hoping it wasn’t too big, too much. Chazz on his own was enough of a problem even when he wasn’t...doing _whatever_ it was that he’d been doing since school started.

Abigail didn’t make any further attempts to stall when she’d cleared her plate. “So...wind. The wind’s been...very, very loud the past week. And very repetitive. In the bad way.”

 _The bad way._ Monica hated it when the wind was loud in the bad way. “That’s another reason for the isolation, then?”

A nod. “I’ve been...trying to pin it down, even a little. But it’s so flighty. So quick. I just know a few things, and...I thought you might be able to get a better picture.” Now Abigail was tensing, not looking at her. “Because I think it’s for tomorrow. And what I have barely makes any sense, and I’m scared.”

Monica hated it when Abigail was scared. And she hated that her divination was so out of focus, causing her to get scared in the first place. If it wasn’t happening right that moment, the things Abigail saw in the wind were chaotic and incomplete, an endless supply of different choices and futures with no way to tell what they'd end up with or how to get there. It’s how she could predict good days and end up with bad ones. She’d chosen the wrong one to share, in hopes to sway it in that direction. It didn't always work. “Okay, so let’s go about this like always. How many pieces are there?”

“Uh...”

“Right, sorry. Main pieces.”

“...Two...I think. And the first one’s tomorrow...I’m not sure about the second.”

Two. Okay. That wasn’t as bad as the five-part series they hadn’t been able to figure out in time to stop the old dorm from being cursed. But before tomorrow? Oh, she hoped it was a simple two. “Alright, so guidelines. What kind of things should I look for?”

“I think it’s best summarized as...uh, find the right numbers. If we don’t...cheating won’t work.”

Monica felt her brow furrow at that. “That’s a bit more specific than usual.”

“...I don’t want to bias your divination.”

“...Okay. But do you know who or what this is about?”

Abigail hadn’t un-tensed, still wasn’t looking at her. She swallowed, then nodded. “It’s...about Moon.”

It took significant strength for Monica to not stand in alarm, to not demand full answers immediately. Her mind jumped to the conclusion of _curse spike_ and stuck there fast. When she managed to speak after several seconds, her voice shook. “You’re sure? And it’s tomorrow?” Another nod. “Abigail, why didn’t you say something sooner?”

“Because I didn’t know it was about Dia until this morning, or that it was tomorrow until about an hour ago.”

All Monica could do was try to breathe, try to stay calm. She’d _promised_ Aniko that she would look out for Dia for him. Something was happening _tomorrow_ and they were already half through the day. _Okay. Okay. Panic won’t help. Talk it through. Then go read for yourself._ “What’ll happen if the numbers are wrong?”

“...Only bad paths are left.” Her daughter’s voice was quiet, fragile. Much like it had been when they’d talked about Chazz earlier.

If the numbers were wrong, there was a chance they could lose Dia? _Don’t let that be it. No. Not again. Not ever again._

“Any ideas on the number?”

“Uh-uh.”

“...Abigail, can you look at me?”

With another nervous swallow, Abigail’s head shifted just enough for her to see Monica through more than peripheral vision. Cleaned up or not, she looked almost as broken as that morning, and this time Monica felt exactly the same. Not Dia. Not after all she’d been through already. Not when she was just starting to open up.

With Demonica recently packed away, even in her panic, Monica was able to present calm. Gentleness. All the softness that Angela had learned in the past ten years, especially when it came to Abigail, scared and half-abandoned and quiet. “Abi, I’m going to figure this out. Even if it takes me the rest of the day and all night, or right up to the last moment we can do something, I will find out what’s going to happen and I _will_ stop it. Alright?”

Another swallow, but another nod as well. Monica barely heard the, “Okay.”

With a heavy sigh, Monica shifted herself to Abigail’s side of the table and pulled her daughter’s head to her shoulder. “We’re not going to lose her. Melodia will be safe.”

“...Okay.”

“Can you repeat it for me?”

“...Melodia will be...safe. We’re not...going to lose her.”

Monica put a soft kiss on Abigail’s head, then started gently stroking her hair. Like before, they just sat together for a while, this time in silence.

* * *

Monica may have been Withering, and she may have been cursed, but her power of flame divination was still clear and strong. If she had an idea of what she was looking for, her mind would ignore all the other things she could see, focus on the situation she wanted.

Dia. Numbers. Tomorrow. Cheating.

It didn’t take long for her to find the concept. It was just as dangerous as the hypnotist’s possibility of being swallowed by the darkness in the cursed dorm, if not worse. Abigail’s fear made complete sense, even if Monica was only seeing what had to be the first of her two visions.

There were a jumble of possibilities, but she worked to group them together – the good ones, the bad ones, the worst ones. In the end she narrowed it down to three paths – one of safety, one of pain, and one of loss. Good, bad, worst.

The chances for the bad were far greater than good. The worst had several opportunities as well. There was only one path, one single situation that led to good, to safety. Safety was behind six, one protected by the other five. Loss was one, all alone. Pain was any number between the two, or any wrong combination of five-to-one.

Dia and five. There were so few people to choose from, so few people that Dia would consider close and trustworthy. With the number of five, there was one combination that jumped out, that made more sense than any other.

Because there were five boys who would never let anything happen to their angel.

With the number, the _who,_ figured out, Monica could start searching for further details. _Where. How. Why._ Most importantly, _what._ Just because she suspected a curse spike didn’t mean it was the only option. The most likely, yes, but not definite.

She focused on the _where_ first. Logically, they shouldn’t be in class. And the flames agreed, even one number over and it was pain. Other places...it seemed it didn’t matter. So long as they were isolated, it was safety.

 _How._ This was harder, much harder. It was such a similar concept to _why_ when it came to searching for futures. The _how…_ If the five weren’t able to react correctly. Too slow, or not enough, led to pain. They had to be prepared. They had to know what to do or what to say. She would have to warn them.

 _Why._ This one varied a little depending on the _where,_ but in the end it was one item. It would get to Dia one way or another, at some point during the day, and be the catalyst for the _what._ It didn’t affect the outcome.

The _what_ was the detail that scared her. _Whats_ became biased by her own experiences, her own fears, and right now she was afraid of the curse. But it wasn’t the only possibility, and she had to accept that. She had to think of things that could affect Dia. People. Experiences. _Her_ fears.

What did she know about Dia besides Knight, Aniko’s sister, and cursed?

Music. She liked music to some degree, beyond just Silvio’s magic. Did Ma’creyt do something? That didn’t make sense, not to her or the flames. Ma’creyt wasn’t in even a single path she could find.

She liked drawing...that wouldn’t be it. Unless some of her art was—no, didn’t seem so. Nothing food related made sense...if one of her friends was hurt, maybe-

 _Dia, maybe 10 years old, surrounded by sparks that she was desperately trying to pull back. About t_ _wenty_ _kids_ _around_ _the same age, just out of range, small bandages on their face or_ _an_ _arm or_ _a_ _leg, scared and confused. Everything else she'd seen had been blurred by static, but this scene was_ _so_ _clear._ _Too clear. A_ _ll Monica could come up with was that it was such a vivid pain with so many victims that Dia hadn't been able to block it out._

The double recall and suspension on the new line of children’s duel disks due to one school reporting malfunctions injuring their students two years in a row.

_Oh, god, that was Dia._

A path blossomed in the flames. A letter. An old face. Guilt, panic, fear, rising up all at once, uncontrollable. Being confronted by something that still haunted her.

Lightning.

Swallowing darkness.

_Thorns._

Tomorrow brought a chance that Dia’s curse would become whole and become just as irreversible as Aniko’s and her own.

And Monica couldn’t find a single path that let Dia avoid the letter forever.

 _“F_ _ind the right numbers. If we don’t...cheating won’t work.”_

If Dia could escape tomorrow without being swallowed, _there was a chance to free her from the curse._

Everything faded. All Monica could see was a wall of fire, reds and yellows and whites and everything in between. Something raw and old and forgotten crept out of a tiny little hole in the back of her mind, seizing her entire being, making it hard to breathe, impossible to think.

For just a split second, she forgot about Demonica. She forgot about the curse, and her failures, and her guilt. The only thing in her mind was that she _had to protect Dia_ _ **no matter what**_ _ **.**_

And a split second was all that it took.

* * *

_Monica stood in an unfamiliar dress before an unfamiliar castle, thorns covering it like a fairytale. Around her was pressure, pushing her back, whispers that said she wasn’t ready, wasn’t capable._

_She had no idea where she was or how she’d gotten there, but she knew the whispers were wrong._

_Shoving her way toward the castle walls was a slow process, each step taking several seconds. As she got closer, the whispers got louder, and she just got angrier, more defiant, more certain she was meant to be here. When she reached the door, blocked by thorns, she took off_ _one of_ _her shoes and used_ _i_ _t_ _like_ _a_ _strange little crowbar, pulling and snapping_ _vines_ _until she could slip inside._

_The pressure was gone, and Monica felt nothing but safety. When her shoe was back on her foot, she started to look around._

_She was in the entry hall, if one could call the inside of the main castle wall that. To be fair she wasn’t familiar with castle terms. There was a door across the way, a plaque on it reading_ What you take decides your fate.

_Fun. Ominous. Great._

_It was obviously referring to the two pedestals between her and it. One held what, upon closer inspection, appeared to be the entrance test for a Balton high school. The other held a glowing ball of light, she wasn’t sure exactly what it meant. It had a pinkish tint, if she squinted._

_Her curiosity tempted her. She wanted to take the ball and see what it was meant to do, but a glance at the plaque stilled her hand. This felt...important. A single touch might be enough to decide whatever it was she was here for._

_But what kind of sense did it make for her ‘fate’ to rely on what high school she went to or some mysterious glowing sphere? None. None at all. Something told her this was a trick._

_Monica stepped past the pedestals and considered the door. When she raised a hand, it opened on its own._

_Stepping through led her to the courtyard, a garden full of nothing but roses. It was overgrown and blinding, colors of all sorts, some she couldn’t name even if she’d had all day to try._ _There was a blanket of bliss that seemed to cover everything, and the sun above made the roses seem even more vivid. For a while she simply picked her way through the growth, finding little places to step, perfectly content._

_After a while she found she kept circling back to the bushes with red roses. It got to the point she couldn’t resist any longer, and she reached out to touch one. It detached from the bush with far too much ease, but she was too entranced to care._

_This felt right. More than anything else she’d experienced, this felt perfect._

_The rose began to glow in her hand, and the stem extended to wrap around her right forearm. She lost hold of it and by the end, the petals rested against the back of her wrist, the flower like a twirling armband of priceless beauty. There was a shifting of color below her and when she looked, she found the white dress she wore was quickly flooding with red, warm and cozy and making her think of fireplaces and hot cocoa._

_A woman’s voice rang out from somewhere she couldn’t see, yet it didn’t startle her at all. “You will lead your generation to peace.”_

_Monica had no voice, and still had no answers as to what was going on, but that sounded pretty cool._

* * *

Monica stood in the garden for the first time since her third year of middle school.

Her first time here, her knowledge of the Knights had been blocked away, not allowing her to cheat her way through the trials or create a biased decision for her rose. When she’d awoken the next morning, she’d found a little red mark on the inside of her elbow, and everything she knew came flooding back.

She’d been chosen. She was a Knight. It was everything she’d ever wanted.

Today, Monica stood before the same bush she’d plucked the rose from – she couldn’t say how she knew it, but she did. The sundress she wore, once bright and lively, had dulled in the skirt and browned in the top. Her mark, once soft and light and swirling, was a tangle of sharp edges and dark colors and far larger than it was ever meant to be.

She was not the same girl she had been when she’d stood in this spot about 13 years ago.

Maybe that was the point.

For a decade she’d tried to prove to herself that she was still Monica, still a Knight, still worthy of what she’d been chosen for even after the losses she’d experienced. She was supposed to lead her generation to peace. Even while hiding behind Angela, she’d tried to pick up all the pieces and stay the person she’d been before.

...That had never been the answer at all.

Monica had Withered because of her guilt, her fear, her inability to understand how, when she’d been promised such great things, her life had instead been torn apart in every direction. She blamed herself. She blamed their attacker.

Most of all, she’d blamed their god.

And how could one truly serve a god they believed had abandoned them when they’d been needed most?

_But she couldn’t afford to blame anymore._

This wasn’t about her. It wasn’t about Aniko, or Lynn, or the way she’d failed them or even how angry she was at their god. At _Tegan._ In the end that had never been the answer.

It was about Dia. It was about a victim who’d spent years not knowing why she could do what she did, years blaming herself for powers she didn’t understand, pain she didn’t mean to cause.

It was about making sure _Dia_ got peace, even if Monica and Aniko couldn’t.

Dia might only have one chance left. And there was not a single thing that would stop Monica from making sure she grabbed hold of it and _kept living._

Monica reached for the closest rose and pulled it from the bush.

The dark red of her mark began to glow.

Warmth and bliss and everything she’d felt 13 years ago wrapped around her like the rose’s stem wrapped around her arm, like the burning bright red wrapped around her clothes.

The voice – Tegan’s voice – came from nowhere and everywhere.

 _“_ _I cannot heal all your wounds...but I am more than overjoyed to welcome you home.”_

Monica couldn’t speak, but she finally had her answers.

* * *

The thorns stretched across his arms pulsed, and whatever his manager was saying became background noise, a buzz of unimportant gibberish when compared to the surge of freedom that had come out of nowhere.

A laugh, a warmth, a return. Such abstract things, yet he found he knew exactly what they meant.

It wasn’t unlike the feeling of a choosing, but it was _more._ It was _her._

It was Monica.

She’d found her answers.

“Hey. Earth to Sparky, I’m talking to you.”

“I didn’t ask you to.” _I can’t think straight. I can’t focus on you right now. I need a moment._

“Fine, fine. Don’t complain to me when you don’t know what you’re doing tonight, then.”

“I’m not doing anything tonight.” _Cancel it. Whatever it is, cancel it, I can’t do it. Not now._

“Oh, so you _do_ pay attention to me. Alright, yeah, you’re clear tonight. So what’s your big plan then, you gonna stare at a wall for three hours or-”

“You’re annoying. I’m going out.” _I need to play. I need to ground. I need-_

_I need to talk to her. Please. Let me talk to her._

_**Gods, you’re pathetic. Fine, I’ll let you have tonight.** _ _**I’m getting tired of th** _ _**e** _ _**cold anyway.** _

White lightning broke out in a chaotic burst around him. His manager shielded her eyes, but he was long gone before she could see again.

The sound of a joyful, heartwarming piano spun through the grounds of the Roswell mansion that afternoon as Aniko cried and laughed and thanked Tegan over and over for never giving up.

* * *

A pulse from her arm pulled her out of her meditation. It was unfamiliar, yet not unknown.

Simple things. Warmth, joy, hope. But so easy to understand.

Abigail couldn’t have predicted that this would’ve been the push her mom needed to find herself, but she knew that there wasn’t going to be anything stopping her from saving Melodia now.

Her mom had never been the type to let go.

She’d just shifted her arms to push herself off her bed when a different feeling took hold, one she knew well, and one she’d been practically breaking herself to find for the past week.

 _“_ _Well well well, what do we have here? This might just be my lucky day after all.”_

Midnight Angel reached out to her. Abigail reached back.

It had only been a matter of time before Chazz found one of the cards. Maybe there were only a hundred and sixty-five left now, but when a duel spirit wanted to find someone, that someone was found.

And now it was time for a duel spirit to give an idiot a piece of a furious girl’s mind.

She’d just jump out of the shadows to surprise-hug her mom afterward.

* * *

Peace, rejoicing, warmth. The complete opposite of what he’d grown used to feeling through his mark in the past six years, yet from the same person. A fire that had once been nothing but embers was blazing to life, crackling with the promise of home.

Vince let out a sigh of relief he’d been hoping to feel for far too long. Maybe this wouldn’t stop her pain, but at the very least, it might make it a little easier to bear. The sight of Demonica had been a terror he couldn’t describe – not fear of his own, but something almost primal, a panic deep within that had awoken when he’d finally put a face, a person, to the pain.

Well, if plans went through, maybe he’d get more answers than the abridged version from last week before too much longer. He just had to wait a little longer.

That wouldn’t be so hard. He’d already been waiting for six years, after all. What was a week and a half more?

* * *

It was like a heated blanket and a mug of tea and a huge fireplace had all appeared around her. Melodia’s doodling on her class notes paused so she could breathe it in, not knowing exactly what it was, but knowing who and why.

Angela. Something _wonderful_ had happened to Angela, and her mark wanted her to know it. Wanted her to know that even if it was just in this moment, her mentor had found her missing peace.

She couldn’t risk taking her PDA out with Professor Crowler in the middle of a question spree, but when the period ended, it was in her hands in a flash.

 **Moon (Melodia):  
** **: ) ?**

 **Miss A. Rosenberg:  
** **I feel 10,000% Me  
** **I also have a phone call and it’s v!! important so I’m gonna have to leave you to your boring class so I can do super secret scheming  
** **;)**

 

The laugh was out of her mouth with no resistance. No one paid her any mind, talking among themselves as they waited for the next teacher. If Angela was typing so casually, she really was in a good mood.

She was glad. Angela deserved it.

Dimitri leaned toward her to ask if she’d caught the last question Professor Crowler had asked, and she put her PDA away to share her notes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be filling this with a few links ~~later~~ to updated profile stuff! ~~For now, placeholders.~~ I'll only link to the Tumblr posts here since those already always link to the dA posts.
> 
> Melodia and Abigail reference sheets (update): https://dorkcentric.tumblr.com/post/189885099840/mellythedork-with-chapter-11-comes-an-update  
> Monica reference sheet (update) and new color palettes: https://dorkcentric.tumblr.com/post/189885344315/mellythedork-and-heres-monica-with-her-chapter
> 
> And something I finished and released not too long ago-  
> Enzo reference sheet: https://dorkcentric.tumblr.com/post/189635753760/mellythedork-its-been-two-thousand-years-oh


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